James Downing
The CEO of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital since 2014, Downing is the architect of the hospital’s six-year plan to expand clinical care and research programs in Memphis and around the world, focusing on better understanding of the genetics of childhood cancer. Downing was instrumental in launching the Pediatric Cancer Genome Project, which has sequenced the normal and cancer genomes of more than 800 young cancer patients with some of the least understood and most aggressive tumors. The project is laying the groundwork for the next generation of patient care by integrating findings into the clinic. For his contributions to pediatric cancer research, Downing has received many honors, including election to the Institute of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
