James Lillard, PhD, MBA

Academic Background
James Lillard completed his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science from the Ohio State University
and worked as a product development engineer for IBM. He received his Ph.D. in Microbiology & Immunology from
the University of Kentucky School of Medicine, where he studied Yersinia “plague” pathogenesis. Dr. Lillard completed
post-doctoral training in mucosal immunology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He has worked as an
Assistant, Associate, and now Full Professor in the Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry, and Immunology at
Morehouse School of Medicine, University of Louisville School of Medicine, and completed an Executive MBA from the
Goizueta Business School at Emory University with a focus on Biotechnology.
Leadership Roles
Dr. Lillard was the Smith & Lucille Gibson Endowed Chair in Medicine, Senior Scientist at the James Graham Brown Cancer
Center, and Vice Chair for Research & Professor in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology at the University of
Louisville. Dr. Lillard rejoined MSM’s faculty as Professor of Microbiology, Biochemistry, & Immunology and Assistant
Dean for Research. In July 2011, Dr. Lillard established the Office of Translational Technologies at MSM, where he
serves as its Director. He served as the Founding Program Director of the online MS in Biotechnology program at MSM,
which is now ranked #1 out of 155 similar programs by Intelligent.com and Founding Program Director of the online
MS in Health Informatics and online MS Medical Cannabis Therapeutics programs. Dr. Lillard serves as Senior Associate
Dean for Research, Innovation, and Commercialization at Morehouse School of Medicine. He has helped establish
biotech companies and contributed to the go-to-market plans of others, as scientific and business advisor and/or founder.
Research Interests
Dr. Lillard is an immunologist who uses in silico and in vivo methods to develop biologics and other technologies to
diagnose, prevent, and/or treat cancer and infectious diseases. His laboratory was among the first to dissect G proteincoupled
receptors effects on cancer and inflammatory disease progression. James is the principal investigator of the Total
Cancer Care protocol, which aggregates and analyzes clinically annotated genomic and real-world data from African
American cancer patients/survivors to generate medical reports and identify new drug targets and diagnostic markers,
making it the largest initiative of its kind. His research contributions span multiple disciplines including oncology, vaccine
development, and biodefense. Dr. Lillard’s cumulative peer-reviewed funding principally directed over his scientific career
exceeds $70 million and he has authored over 300 scientific communications, which have been cited over 10,000 times.
Dr. Lillard’s articles have appeared in International Journal of Cancer Research, Clinical Cancer Research, Journal of Clinical
Investigations, Journal Immunology, Laboratory Investigations, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. His work is
well-recognized as indicated by his appointment as a NAI Fellow, AAAS Fellow, AAI Distinguished Fellow, and service
on editorial boards and scientific review for the AACR, DoD, FDA, NIH, VA and industry advisory panels and study
sections.