James R. Downing, M.D. CEO of St Jude
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James R. Downing, MD
Member, St. Jude Faculty
President and Chief Executive Officer, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Director, Molecular Pathology Laboratory
Donald Pinkel Chair of Childhood Cancer Treatment.
Departments:
Treatment
Departments
Administration
Pathology Department
Comprehensive Cancer Center
Education
MD – University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (1981)
Honors & Awards
2020 Outstanding Achievement in Pediatric Cancer Research Award, AACR-St. Baldrick’s Foundation
2019 Pediatric Oncology Award and Lecture, American Society of Clinical Oncology
2018 Selected, Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches Project
2017 E. Donnall Thomas Lecture and Prize from the American Society of Hematology
2017 The Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering Prize
2016 Elected, American Academy of Arts & Sciences
2016 Appointed, Blue Ribbon Panel for Vice President Joe Biden’s National Cancer Moonshot Initiative
2013 Elected, Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences (now known as National Academy of Medicine)
2013 Finalist, TIME magazine’s list of the World’s 100 Most Influential People
2012 Association for Molecular Pathology Award for Excellence
2009 American Association for Cancer Research, Team Science Award
2007 The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Kenneth B. McCredie Memorial Lecturer
2003 Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
2003 Member, Association of American Physicians
2003 Maude Abbott Lectureship, United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology
1999 Awarded "Alumnus of the Year" University of Michigan, Dearborn
1998 Member, American Society for Clinical Investigation
Research Interests
Developmental hematopoiesis and the role of AML1 in the formation of hematopoietic stem cells
Mechanisms of Leukemogenesis
Mouse genetics
Clinical applications of expression profiling
The AML1/CBF beta transcription factor complex in normal and leukemic hematopoiesis
Downing Research Lab
Contact Information
James R. Downing, MD
Administration
MS 271, Room C7045
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
262 Danny Thomas Place
Contact Information
James R. Downing, MD
Administration
MS 271, Room C7045
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
262 Danny Thomas Place
Memphis, TN 38105-3678
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (901) 595-3956
Fax: (901) 595-3749
St. Jude Faculty List
Selected Publications
Wang Z, Liu Q, Wilson CL, Easton J, Mulder H, Chang TC, Rusch MC, Edmonson MN, Rice SV, Ehrhardt MJ, Howell RM, Kesserwan CA, Wu G, Nichols KE, Downing JR, Hudson MM, Zhang J, Yasui Y, Robison LL. Polygenic determinants for subsequent breast cancer risk in survivors of childhood cancer: The St Jude Lifetime Cohort Study (SJLIFE). Clin Cancer Res 24(24)6230-6235, 2018.
Alexander TB, Gu Z, Iacobucci I, Dickerson K, Choi JK, Xu B, Payne-Turner D, Yoshihara H, Loh ML, Horan J, Buldini B, Basso G, Elitzur S, de Haas V, Zwaan CM, Yeoh A, Reinhardt D, Tomizawa D, Kiyokawa N, Lammens T, De Moerloose B, Catchpoole D, Hori H, Moorman A, Moore AS, Hrusak O, Meshinchi S, Orgel E, Devidas M, Borowitz M, Wood B, Heerema NA, Carrol A, Yang YL, Smith MA, Davidsen TM, Hermida LC, Gesuwan P, Marra MA, Ma Y, Mungall AJ, Moore RA, Jones SJM, Valentine M, Janke LJ, Rubnitz JE, Pui CH, Ding L, Liu Y, Zhang J, Nichols KE, Downing JR, Cao X, Shi L, Pounds S, Newman S, Pei D, Guidry Auvil JM, Gerhard DS, Hunger SP, Inaba H, Mullighan CG. The genetic basis and cell of origin of mixed phenotype acute leukaemia. Nature 562(7727):373-379, 2018.
Wong JC, Bryant V, Lamprecht T, Ma J, Walsh M, Schwartz J, Del Pilar Alzamora M, Mullighan CG, Loh ML, Ribeiro R, Downing JR, Carroll WL, Davis J, Gold S, Rogers PC, Israels S, Yanofsky R, Shannon K, Klco JM. Germline SAMD9 and SAMD9L mutations are associated with extensive genetic evolution and diverse hematologic outcomes. JCI Insight 3(14), 2018.
Lamba JK, Cao X, Raimondi SC, Rafiee R, Downing JR, Shi L, Gruber T, Ribeiro RC, Rubnitz JE, Pounds SB. Correction, Integrated epigenetic and genetic analysis identifies markers of prognostic significance in pediatric acute myeloid leukemia. Oncotarget 9(54):30473, 2018.
Stewart E, Federico SM, Chen X, Shelat AA, Bradley C, Gordon B, Karlstrom A, Twarog NR, Clay MR, Bahrami A, Freeman BB 3rd, Xu B, Zhou X, Wu J, Honnell V, Ocarz M, Blankenship K, Dapper J, Mardis ER, Wilson RK, Downing J, Zhang J, Easton J, Pappo A, Dyer MA. Orthotopic patient-derived xenografts of paediatric solid tumours. Nature 549:96-100, 2017. PMCID: PMC5659286
Faber ZJ, Chen X, Gedman AL, Boggs K, Cheng J, Ma J, Radtke I, Chao JR, Walsh MP, Song G, Andersson AK, Dang J, Dong L, Liu Y, Huether R, Cai Z, Mulder H, Wu G, Edmonson M, Rusch M, Qu C, Li Y, Vadodaria B, Wang J, Hedlund E, Cao X, Yergeau D, Nakitandwe J, Pounds SB, Shurtleff S, Fulton RS, Fulton LL, Easton J, Parganas E, Pui CH, Rubnitz JE, Ding L, Mardis ER, Wilson RK, Gruber TA, Mullighan CG, Schlenk RF, Paschka P, Dohner K, Dohner H, Bullinger L, Zhang J, Klco JM, Downing JR. The genomic landscape of core-binding factor acute myeloid leukemias. Nat Genet 48:1551-1556, 2016. PMCID: PMC5508996
Zhang J, McCastlain K, Yoshihara H, Xu B, Chang Y, Churchman ML, Wu G, Li Y, Wei L, Iacobucci I, Liu Y, Qu C, Wen J, Edmonson M, Payne-Turner D, Kaufmann KB, Takayanagi SI, Wienholds E, Waanders E, Ntziachristos P, Bakogianni S, Wang J, Aifantis I, Roberts KG, Ma J, Song G, Easton J, Mulder HL, Chen X, Newman S, Ma X, Rusch M, Gupta P, Boggs K, Vadodaria B, Dalton J, Liu Y, Valentine ML, Ding L, Lu C, Fulton RS, Fulton L, Tabib Y, Ochoa K, Devidas M, Pei D, Cheng C, Yang J, Evans WE, Relling MV, Pui CH, Jeha S, Harvey RC, Chen IL, Willman CL, Marcucci G, Bloomfield CD, Kohlschmidt J, Mrozek K, Paietta E, Tallman MS, Stock W, Foster MC, Racevskis J, Rowe JM, Luger S, Kornblau SM, Shurtleff SA, Raimondi SC, Mardis ER, Wilson RK, Dick JE, Hunger SP, Loh ML, Downing JR, Mullighan CG. Deregulation of DUX4 and ERG in acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Nat Genet 48:1481-1489, 2016. PMCID: PMC5144107
Zhou X, Edmonson MN, Wilkinson MR, Patel A, Wu G, Liu Y, Li Y, Zhang Z, Rusch MC, Parker M, Becksfort J, Downing JR, Zhang J. Exploring genomic alteration in pediatric cancer using ProteinPaint. Nat Genet 48:4-6, 2016. PMCID: PMC4892362
Zhang J, Walsh MF, Wu G, Edmonson MN, Gruber TA, Easton J, Hedges D, Ma X, Zhou X, Yergeau DA, Wilkinson MR, Vadodaria B, Chen X, McGee RB, Hines-Dowell S, Nuccio R, Quinn E, Shurtleff SA, Rusch M, Patel A, Becksfort JB, Wang S, Weaver MS, Ding L, Mardis ER, Wilson RK, Gajjar A, Ellison DW, Pappo AS, Pui CH, Nichols KE, Downing JR. Germline mutations in predisposition genes in pediatric cancer. N Engl J Med 373:2336-2346, 2015. PMCID: PMC4734119
Andersson AK, Ma J, Wang J, Chen X, Gedman AL, Dang J, Nakitandwe J, Holmfeldt L, Parker M, Easton J, Huether R, Kriwacki R, Rusch M, Wu G, Li Y, Mulder H, Raimondi S, Pounds S, Kang G, Shi L, Becksfort J, Gupta P, Payne-Turner D, Vadodaria B, Boggs K, Yergeau D, Manne J, Song G, Edmonson M, Nagahawatte P, Wei L, Cheng C, Pei D, Sutton R, Venn NC, Chetcuti A, Rush A, Catchpoole D, Heldrup J, Fioretos T, Lu C, Ding L, Pui CH, Shurtleff S, Mullighan CG, Mardis ER, Wilson RK, Gruber TA, Zhang J, Downing JR. The landscape of somatic mutations in infant MLL-rearranged acute lymphoblastic leukemias. Nat Genet 47:330-337, 2015. PMCID: PMC4553269
Wu G, Diaz AK, Paugh BS, Rankin SL, Ju B, Li Y, Zhu X, Qu C, Chen X, Zhang J, Easton J, Edmonson M, Ma X, Lu C, Nagahawatte P, Hedlund E, Rusch M, Pounds S, Lin T, Onar-Thomas A, Huether R, Kriwacki R, Parker M, Gupta P, Becksfort J, Wei L, Mulder HL, Boggs K, Vadodaria B, Yergeau D, Russell JC, Ochoa K, Fulton RS, Fulton LL, Jones C, Boop FA, Broniscer A, Wetmore C, Gajjar A, Ding L, Mardis ER, Wilson RK, Taylor MR, Downing JR, Ellison DW, Zhang J, Baker SJ. The genomic landscape of diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma and pediatric non-brainstem high-grade glioma. Nat Genet 46:444-450, 2014. PMCID: PMC4056452
Parker M, Mohankumar KM, Punchihewa C, Weinlich R, Dalton JD, Li Y, Lee R, Tatevossian RG, Phoenix TN, Thiruvenkatam R, White E, Tang B, Orisme W, Gupta K, Rusch M, Chen X, Li Y, Nagahawhatte P, Hedlund E, Finkelstein D, Wu G, Shurtleff S, Easton J, Boggs K, Yergeau D, Vadodaria B, Mulder HL, Becksfort J, Gupta P, Huether R, Ma J, Song G, Gajjar A, Merchant T, Boop F, Smith AA, Ding L, Lu C, Ochoa K, Zhao D, Fulton RS, Fulton LL, Mardis ER, Wilson RK, Downing JR, Green DR, Zhang J, Ellison DW, Gilbertson RJ. C11orf95-RELA fusions drive oncogenic NF-kappa B signalling in ependymoma CORRIGENDUM (vol 506, pg 451, 2014). Nature 508:554-, 2014.
Huether R, Dong L, Chen X, Wu G, Parker M, Wei L, Ma J, Edmonson MN, Hedlund EK, Rusch MC, Shurtleff SA, Mulder HL, Boggs K, Vadordaria B, Cheng J, Yergeau D, Song G, Becksfort J, Lemmon G, Weber C, Cai Z, Dang J, Walsh M, Gedman AL, Faber Z, Easton J, Gruber T, Kriwacki RW, Partridge JF, Ding L, Wilson RK, Mardis ER, Mullighan CG, Gilbertson RJ, Baker SJ, Zambetti G, Ellison DW, Zhang J, Downing JR. The landscape of somatic mutations in epigenetic regulators across 1,000 paediatric cancer genomes. Nat Commun 5:3630-, 2014. PMCID: PMC4119022
Gruber TA, Larson Gedman A, Zhang J, Koss CS, Marada S, Ta HQ, Chen SC, Su X, Ogden SK, Dang J, Wu G, Gupta V, Andersson AK, Pounds S, Shi L, Easton J, Barbato MI, Mulder HL, Manne J, Wang J, Rusch M, Ranade S, Ganti R, Parker M, Ma J, Radtke I, Ding L, Cazzaniga G, Biondi A, Kornblau SM, Ravandi F, Kantarjian H, Nimer SD, Dohner K, Dohner H, Ley TJ, Ballerini P, Shurtleff S, Tomizawa D, Adachi S, Hayashi Y, Tawa A, Shih LY, Liang DC, Rubnitz JE, Pui CH, Mardis ER, Wilson RK, Downing JR. An Inv(16)(p13.3q24.3)-encoded CBFA2T3-GLIS2 fusion protein defines an aggressive subtype of pediatric acute megakaryoblastic leukemia. Cancer Cell 22:683-697, 2012. PMCID: PMC3547667
Robinson G, Parker M, Kranenburg TA, Lu C, Chen X, Ding L, Phoenix TN, Hedlund E, Wei L, Zhu X, Chalhoub N, Baker SJ, Huether R, Kriwacki R, Curley N, Thiruvenkatam R, Wang J, Wu G, Rusch M, Hong X, Becksfort J, Gupta P, Ma J, Easton J, Vadodaria B, Onar-Thomas A, Lin T, Li S, Pounds S, Paugh S, Zhao D, Kawauchi D, Roussel MF, Finkelstein D, Ellison DW, Lau CC, Bouffet E, Hassall T, Gururangan S, Cohn R, Fulton RS, Fulton LL, Dooling DJ, Ochoa K, Gajjar A, Mardis ER, Wilson RK, Downing JR, Zhang J, Gilbertson RJ. Novel mutations target distinct subgroups of medulloblastoma. Nature 488:43-48, 2012. PMCID: PMC3412905
Downing JR, Wilson RK, Zhang J, Mardis ER, Pui CH, Ding L, Ley TJ, Evans WE. The pediatric cancer genome project. Nat Genet 44:619-622, 2012. PMCID: PMC3619412
Downing JR, Wilson RK, Zhang J, Mardis ER, Pui CH, Ding L, Ley TJ, Evans WE. The pediatric cancer genome project. Nat Genet 44:619-622, 2012. PMCID: PMC3619412
Cheung NK, Zhang J, Lu C, Parker M, Bahrami A, Tickoo SK , Heguy A, Pappo AS, Federico S, Dalton J, Cheung IY, Ding L, Fulton R, Wang J, Chen X, Becksfort J, Wu J, Billups CA, Ellison D, Mardis ER, Wilson RK, Downing JR, Dyer MA, St Jude Children's Research Hospital-Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project . Association of age at diagnosis and genetic mutations in patients with neuroblastoma. JAMA 307:1062-1071, 2012. PMCID: PMC3527076
Wu G, Broniscer A, McEachron TA, Lu C, Paugh BS, Becksfort J, Qu C, Ding L, Huether R, Parker M, Zhang J, Gajjar A, Dyer MA, Mullighan CG, Gilbertson RJ, Mardis ER, Wilson RK, Downing JR, Ellison DW, Zhang J, Baker SJ. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital-Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project. Somatic histone H3 alterations in pediatric diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas and non-brainstem glioblastomas. Nat Genet 44:251-253, 2012. PMCID: PMC3288377
Zhang J, Benavente CA, McEvoy J, Flores-Otero J, Ding L, Chen X, Ulyanov A, Wu G, Wilson M, Wang J, Brennan R, Rusch M, Manning AL, Ma J, Easton J, Shurtleff S, Mullighan C, Pounds S, Mukatira S, Gupta P, Neale G, Zhao D, Lu C, Fulton RS, Fulton LL, Hong X, Dooling DJ, Ochoa K, Naeve C, Dyson NJ, Mardis ER, Bahrami A, Ellison D, Wilson RK, Downing JR, Dyer MA. A novel retinoblastoma therapy from genomic and epigenetic analyses. Nature 481:329-334, 2012. PMCID: PMC328995
Zhang J, Benavente CA, McEvoy J, Flores-Otero J, Ding L, Chen X, Ulyanov A, Wu G, Wilson M, Wang J, Brennan R, Rusch M, Manning AL, Ma J, Easton J, Shurtleff S, Mullighan C, Pounds S, Mukatira S, Gupta P, Neale G, Zhao D, Lu C, Fulton RS, Fulton LL, Hong X, Dooling DJ, Ochoa K, Naeve C, Dyson NJ, Mardis ER, Bahrami A, Ellison D, Wilson RK, Downing JR, Dyer MA. A novel retinoblastoma therapy from genomic and epigenetic analyses. Nature 481:329-334, 2012. PMCID: PMC328995
Andersson AK, Miller DW, Lynch JA, Lemoff AS, Cai Z, Pounds SB, Radtke I, Yan B, Schuetz JD, Rubnitz JE, Ribeiro RC, Raimondi SC, Zhang J, Mullighan CG, Shurtleff SA, Schulman BA, Downing JR. IDH1 and IDH2 mutations in pediatric acute leukemia. Leukemia 25:1570-1577, 2011. PMCID: PMC3883450
Mullighan CG, Zhang J, Kasper LH, Lerach S, Payne-Turner D, Phillips LA, Heatley SL, Holmfeldt L, Collins-Underwood JR, Ma J, Buetow KH, Pui CH, Baker SD, Brindle PK, Downing JR. CREBBP mutations in relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Nature 471:235-239, 2011. PMCID: PMC3076610
Mullighan CG, Phillips LA, Su X, Ma J, Miller CB, Shurtleff SA, Downing JR. Genomic analysis of the clonal origins of relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Science 322:1377-1380, 2008. PMCID: PMC2746051
Mullighan CG, Miller CB, Radtke I, Phillips LA, Dalton J, Ma J, White D, Hughes TP, Le Beau MM, Pui CH, Relling MV, Shurtleff SA, Downing JR. BCR-ABL1 lymphoblastic leukaemia is characterized by the deletion of Ikaros. Nature 453:110-114, 2008.
Mullighan CG, Goorha S, Radtke I, Miller CB, Coustan-Smith E, Dalton JD, Girtman K, Mathew S, Ma J, Pounds SB, Su X, Pui CH, Relling MV, Evans WE, Shurtleff SA, Downing JR. Genome-wide analysis of genetic alterations in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Nature 446:758-764, 2007.
Lu J, Getz G, Miska EA, Alvarez-Saavedra E, Lamb J, Peck D, Sweet-Cordero A, Ebert BL, Mak RH, Ferrando AA, Downing JR, Jacks T, Horvitz HR, Golub TR. MicroRNA expression profiles classify human cancers. Nature 435:834-838, 2005.
Higuchi M, O'Brien D, Kumaravelu P, Lenny N, Yeoh EJ, Downing JR. Expression of a conditional AML1-ETO oncogene bypasses embryonic lethality and establishes a murine model of human t(8;21) acute myeloid leukemia. Cancer Cell 1:63-74, 2002.
Pui CH, Behm FG, Downing JR, Hancock ML, Shurtleff SA, Ribeiro RC, Head DR, Mahmoud HH, Sandlund JT, Furman WL, Roberts WM, Crist WM, Raimondi SC. 11q23/MLL rearrangement confers a poor prognosis in infants with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Classic Papers Current Comments 1:95-101, 2000.
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Last update: February 2019
Related Topics
James R. Downing, MD - Bio
Primary Genomic Data Access Request
Leukemia / Lymphoma Treatment
Hematological Malignancies Program
News Releases
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital president and CEO honored for contributions to pediatric cancer research
06/22/2020
The Pediatric Cancer Genome Project at 10: The impact lives on
01/27/2020
American Society of Clinical Oncology honors St. Jude president and CEO
03/13/2019
St. Jude CEO James Downing ranked No. 5 of Glassdoor’s Top 100 CEOs
06/20/2018
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