At war with childhood cancer: UM-Dearborn alumnus leads St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

James Downing ('77 B.S.), president and CEO of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, with two young patients.

And they all have dreams. Some want to be astronauts and fly through space. Others want to be professional athletes and score a game-winner at the buzzer. Some want to be actors and star in Hollywood movies.

The harsh reality is that many of those children won’t have an opportunity to chase their dreams because of cancer and other devastating diseases.

Dr. James Downing (’77 B.S.) hopes to change that.

“We really are in a war against pediatric catastrophic diseases,” Downing said. “Children are dying. This is something that we need to keep close to our hearts, and it needs to motivate us because there really is no reason for children to be dying in the dawn of their life.”

The University of Michigan-Dearborn alumnus recently was named president and CEO of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, one of the world’s premier pediatric cancer research centers.

His passion for scientific research stems from his experience at UM-Dearborn. A Lincoln Park native, Downing arrived on the Dearborn campus planning to study engineering.

A biology course he took during his second semester changed all that and the idea of medical school took shape. Downing enrolled at the University of Michigan Medical School, and quickly learned how well his UM-Dearborn background had prepared him for the rigors of medical school.

He and his medical cohort were required to take a biochemistry placement test. Those who scored lower had to take biochemistry, while those with higher scores could take an advanced class.

After the test, Downing was asked to step outside the classroom. He'd scored so high on the placement test that he was allowed to skip biochemistry altogether and start conducting research.

“I had classes with students from Ivy league schools, so this showed me that UM-Dearborn is as good as any place in the country,” he said. “I worked much harder as an undergrad than I had to for medical school because it was as rigorous an education as you could get.”

Downing eventually landed at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and earned UM-Dearborn’s Distinguished Alumnus of the Year Award in 1999. In 2013, he was named a finalist in TIME magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

“I never had intentions of doing great things,” Downing said. “I hadn’t set a goal of changing medicine, so to have my career go in a direction that has allowed me to have an impact on so many people is pretty exciting.”