Dr. Sherman A. James is the Susan B. King Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Public Policy at Duke University. Before Duke (2003-2014), he was the John P. Kirscht Collegiate Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Michigan (1989-2003) and a Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (1973-1989).
Dr. James received the A.B. degree in Psychology and Philosophy from Talladega College in 1964. He received a Ph.D. degree in Social Psychology in 1973 from Washington University in St. Louis. Between his studies at Talladega and Washington University, he was an active duty, commissioned officer in the US Air Force (1964-1969).
At Talladega, he was a DeForest Scholar and a recipient of the Whiton Writing Award and the Buell Gordon Gallagher Award for Scholarship and Service. He was also president of the Little Theatre and the Alpha Beta Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
Dr. James is a member of the National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine), a Fellow of the American College of Epidemiology, the American Heart Association, the Society of Behavioral Medicine, and the American Academy of Political and Social Science. In 2007, he was the first African American elected president of the Society for Epidemiologic Research, the largest professional society of epidemiologists in North America. During his 40+ years as a college professor and public health scientist, Dr. James served on numerous scientific committees at the National Institutes of Health and on several editorial boards of scientific journals.
