Prof. James G Fox

Dr. James Fox is a Professor and Director of the Division of Comparative Medicine and a Professor in the Department of Biological Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine and the University of Pennsylvania, School of Veterinary Medicine. He is a Diplomate and a past president of the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine, past president of the Massachusetts Society of Medical Research, past chairman of AAALAC Council, past chairman of the NCCR/NIH Comparative Medicine Study Section, past president of the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges, and past chairman of the National Association of Biomedical Research. He is also a member of various other organizations including AAAS, AALAS, AVMA, AAVMC, IDSA, ACLAM and ASM. He also is an elected fellow of the Infectious Disease Society of America, an elected fellow of the American Gastroenterological Association, a past or current member of the Board of Directors of Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research (PRIM&R), ACLAM, ACLAD, AAALAC, MSMR, NABR and AAVMC. Professor Fox is the author of over 570 articles, 100 chapters, 4 patents and has edited and authored 15 texts, in the field of in vivo model development and comparative medicine. He has given over 250 invited lectures, consults nationally and internationally with government, academia and industry, has served on the editorial board of several journals, is a past member of the NIH/NCRR Scientific Advisory Council, and a past member of ILAR Council of the National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Fox was elected to the Institute Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 2004. He has received numerous scientific awards including the AVMA’s Charles River Prize in Comparative Medicine, the AALAS Nathan Brewer Scientific Achievement Award, and the AVMA/ASLAP Excellence in Research Award. In 2006, Dr. Fox received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Colorado State University and in 2007 was selected as the inaugural recipient of the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine Comparative Medicine Scientist Award. Dr. Fox was recently elected as an honorary member of the European Helicobacter Study group, and is the 2008 recipient of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science Charles A. Griffin Award. In 2013, Dr. Fox received the Excellence in Research Award from the American Association of Veterinary Medicine, followed in 2014 by the Pravin Bhatt Scientific Achievement Award from the American Association of Laboratory Animal Sciences. He has been studying infectious diseases of the gastrointestinal tract for the past 35 years and has focused on the pathogenesis of Campylobacter spp. and Helicobacter spp. infection in humans and animals. His laboratory developed the ferret as a model for both campylobacter and helicobacter associated disease as well as the first rodent model to study helicobacter associated gastric disease, including gastric cancer. Dr. Fox is considered an international authority on the epidemiology and pathogenesis of enterohepatic helicobacters in humans and animals. He is largely responsible for identifying, naming, and describing many of the diseases attributed to various Helicobacter species; most notably their association with hepatitis, liver tumors, inflammatory bowel disease and colon cancer. His laboratory has described the pivotal role that Helicobacter spp. play in the development of cholesterol gallstones in mice fed a lithogenic diet; thus linking this finding to his earlier description of Helicobacter spp. associated chronic cholecystitis and gallstones in Chilean women, a population at high risk of developing gallbladder cancer. He also has had a long-standing interest in zoonotic diseases as well as biosafety issues associated with in vivo models.

His past and current research has been funded by NIH and NCI, as well as by private industrial sources, for the past 40 years. He has been the principal investigator of an NIH postdoctoral training grant for veterinarians for the past 26 years and has trained 70 veterinarians for careers in biomedical research. He also has a NIH training for veterinary students and has introduced over 150 veterinary students to careers in biomedical research. He chaired a committee for the National Academy of Sciences which published a report entitled "National Need and Priorities for Veterinarians in Biomedical Research" which highlights the urgent need for increased numbers of veterinarians involved in the biomedical research arena. He is a past member of NAS "Committee to Assess the Current and Future Workforce Needs in Veterinary Medicine". Most recently he served as a member of the Physician-Scientist Workforce, commissioned by the Director of NIH.