James R. Downing

James R. Downing was born to parents Lillian and Robert W. Downing and grew up in Detroit, Michigan with five siblings.[1][2] Downing enjoyed playing football and baseball while he attended Aquinas High School, and initially hoped to play baseball professionally. In the summer after graduating high school, he broke his back while working a construction job. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan, where he initially majored in engineering before switching to biochemistry.[3] He stayed at UM to finish a Doctor of Medicine in 1981.[4]

Following his Doctor of Medicine, he completed a medical residency in anatomic pathology at Washington University in St. Louis. He then completed a fellowship in hematopathology at the University of Florida. In 1986, Downing began working at the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. On July 15, 2014, he became the chief executive officer at St. Jude, making him the sixth person to hold the position.[2]

He was one of the inaugural co-editors of the Annual Review of Pathology: Mechanisms of Disease, though only held the position for the first volume in 2006.[5]

In 2003 he was elected as a member of the Association of American Physicians and American Association for the Advancement of Science. He later joined the National Academy of Medicine (2013) and American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2016).[4]

He is married to Mariea Downing; the couple has three children and five grandchildren.[2]