James Downing MD is Scientific Director of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The position was first established in 2002 for William Evans, PharmD. He said, “as scientific director, Dr. Evans was able to recruit excellent individuals into key leadership positions. They bring a wealth of experience, and I look forward to learning from them and supporting them in their efforts. I am convinced that their talent and dedication coupled with the exceptional resources provided by ALSAC will allow us to create an infrastructure that will help make laboratory and clinical research at St. Jude second-to-none.” Downing is working on: refining the hospital’s affiliate model and exploring approaches to expand clinical collaborative relationships; facilitating the development of one or more large science initiatives that can take advantage of the Hartwell Center’s computing capabilities; developing a stem cell biology program; establishing a small animal imaging core service within the ARC; and finding ways to expand and strengthen graduate student training at St. Jude.