James R. Downing, MD

James R. Downing, MD, joined the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Board of Trustees in 2022.  Dr. Downing is president and chief executive officer of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Dr. Downing earned his undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of Michigan. He joined St. Jude in 1986 after training in anatomic pathology at Washington University in St. Louis and completing a fellowship in hematopathology at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Prior to taking the helm of St. Jude, Dr. Downing served as the institution’s scientific and deputy director. He became the hospital’s sixth chief executive officer on July 15, 2014. For his work, Dr. Downing has received many honors, including election to the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Most recently, he was awarded the 2019 Pediatric Oncology Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the 2020 American Association for Cancer Research-St. Baldrick’s Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement in Pediatric Cancer Research.