Meet Our Team
Founders & Board of Directors
Sharron Rouse
President & Co-Founder
Sharron S. Rouse is a dedicated leader and transplant survivor known for her resilience and community-driven advocacy. With deep expertise in education and nonprofit management, she founded SR Consulting Services LLC and co-founded the APOL1 Action Alliance to foster progress in healthcare and patient education.
As the founder of Kindness for Kidneys International, Inc., Sharron transforms personal experience into meaningful support, leading nationally recognized programs that assist thousands of kidney warriors each year. Her professional influence extends to various high-level advisory boards and patient advocacy committees.
A multi-award-winning advocate, including two Presidential Volunteer Service Awards, Sharron continues to champion patient empowerment through public speaking and policy reform. She resides in Maryland with her husband and daughter.
Richard Knight, MBA
Vice President & Co-Founder
Richard A. Knight is a kidney transplant recipient of twenty years, a former hemodialysis patient, and one of the nation’s most respected voices in kidney health advocacy. His personal experience with kidney disease is the foundation of a career dedicated to transforming how patients access care, education, and representation. As Co-Founder and Vice President of the APOL1 Action Alliance, Richard brings decades of advocacy leadership, institutional relationships, and strategic vision to the organization’s mission of advancing health equity for communities disproportionately affected by APOL1-mediated kidney disease. Richard previously served as President of the American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP) and currently serves as an Adjunct Instructor and founding member of the College of Business Advisory Council at Bowie State University. He also serves as Treasurer and Board Member of the Personalized Medicine Coalition, where he advocates for precision medicine approaches that benefit both patients and health systems.
Richard’s advocacy has been recognized with the President’s Volunteer Service Award (2020) and the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award (2022), as well as the American Society of Nephrology President’s Award (2017). His research and commentary have been published in peer-reviewed journals including the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, Nature, Clinical Transplantation, the American Journal of Kidney Disease, and Patient Education and Counseling.
At APOL1 Action Alliance, Richard serves as the organizational strategist, leading pharmaceutical partnerships, board development, and long-term sustainability — ensuring that the communities most vulnerable to APOL1-mediated kidney disease are equipped, informed, and never left behind.
Barbara Harrison
Board Member
Barbara Harrison, MS, CGC is a certified genetic counselor and clinical assistant professor at Howard University College of Medicine. She provides clinical genetic counseling services across a range of indications, including OB/GYN, cardiology and nephrology. She has done extensive work in increasing equity in genomic medicine, from engaging underserved patient communities in research and clinical care, to leading efforts to diverse the genomic workforce.
Marva Moxey-Mims, MD, FASN
Board Member
Dr. Moxey-Mims is Chief of the Division of Nephrology at Children’s National Hospital, Washington, D.C., and Professor of Pediatrics at The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. She was previously at the National Institute of Diabetes, and Digestive, and Kidney Diseases at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) where she served as Director of the Pediatric Nephrology program and Deputy Director for clinical science in the Division of Kidney, Urologic, and Hematologic Diseases, overseeing a portfolio of research including trials for kidney disease and genitourinary dysfunction in adults and children. She had oversight of the FSGS Clinical Trial, which included children and adults. Two of the exclusively pediatric studies that she initiated, are the Randomized Intervention for Children with Vesicoureteral Reflux (RIVUR) trial, undertaken to understand the effectiveness of prophylactic antimicrobial treatment in children with VUR and the ongoing Chronic Kidney Disease in Children (CKiD) study.
Dr. Moxey-Mims received her undergraduate degree from McGill University, Montreal, Canada, and her MD from Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, DC. She has more than 120 publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals. She has had a longstanding interest in the disparities seen in kidney disease and potential underlying causes and is currently the Steering Committee Chair of the NIH-funded APOLLO study, which is assessing the impact of the APOL1 genotype on the longevity of kidney allografts.
Kevin Fowler
Board Member
Kevin Fowler worked in the pharmaceutical industry for over 25 years in both the commercial and R&D organizations. His career has encompassed a breadth and depth of skills and experiences. During his pharma career, he demonstrated leadership in sales management, training, public affairs, global marketing, patient advocacy, and patient marketing. He formed his own patient advocacy and patient engagement consulting business in 2014, “The Voice of the Patient, Inc. His clients currently include Alexion , Akebia, Biogen, Dimerix, eGenesis, Memo Therapeutics,Travere Therapeutics, Phreesia, ProKidney, Tonix, Veloxis In 2017, Kevin was selected to be a Patient Editor, Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. In 2023, he was asked to serve a second term as Patient Voice Editor. In 2021, Kevin was awarded the American Society of Transplantation Transplant Advocacy Award. He has contributed or been primary author in over 25 articles published in the American Journal of Kidney Disease, American Journal of Transplantation, Clinical Journal of American Society of Nephrology, and Kidney Medicine.
Based upon his personal experiences of having a pre-emptive kidney transplant in 2004, he has a deep passion for patient advocacy and patient engagement. Kevin brings the patient voice to several organizations as a volunteer:
Kidney Research Institute, Patient Advisory Committee
National Kidney Foundation, Coalition for Kidney Health
Board of Directors, Improving Renal Outcomes in Children (IROC)
Global Renal Exercise Network
Janice P. Lea, MD, MSc, FASN
Board Member
Dr. Janice P. Lea, MD, MSc, FASN is a Distinguished Professor of Medicine at Emory University and the Division Director for Renal Medicine. She earned her medical degree at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and completed her residency in Internal Medicine and a Nephrology fellowship at Emory. She also received a Masters of Science Degree in Clinical Research from Emory’s School of Public Health. She has served on the Emory renal faculty for 30 years and has mentored and educated numerous research and clinical postgraduate students.
Dr. Lea’s research and clinical expertise are in Hypertension, Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), Kidney Health Disparities, and Dialysis care. Dr. Lea is designated as a Hypertension Specialist and is an active member of the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) and an executive board member of the American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP). She was appointed to the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Nephrology board in 2022.
Dr. Lea was honored with the AAKP Medical of Excellence Award, the highest accolade bestowed by patients upon a physician, and received a Gold Medal US President’s award for her dedication to educating patients during the COVID pandemic. Dr. Lea also has been named one of Atlanta’s Top Doctors for the last 15 years.
Dr. Lea is engaged in cutting-edge research, including NIH and industry/foundation supported trials centered around health disparities in CKD, improving dialysis care and outcomes, APOL1-Mediated Kidney Disease, and several trials related to novel therapies in Hypertension involving renal denervation. Early in her career she was the Principal Investigator (PI) for the NIH landmark study- “African-American Study of Kidney Disease and Hypertension” and more recently the PI for a PCORI grant focused on developing a mentorship program for patients with CKD. Dr. Lea is extensively published and has been a co-author on several nephrology/hypertension clinical guideline papers on subject matter related to hypertension, CKD, and dialysis, and thus is recognized as a national thought leader in the renal community.
Glenda V. Roberts
Board Member
Glenda V. Roberts is a member of the Board of Directors of the APOL1 Action Alliance. She serves as Director of Communications and Patient Engagement at the Mount Sinai Center for Kidney Disease Innovation and as Director of Communications for the Kidney Precision Medicine Project. In these roles, she leads advocacy and strategic communications for NIH-funded kidney innovation projects and advances patient-centered approaches to precision nephrology research.
Roberts brings a distinguished cross-sector career to her board service, with executive roles in Information Technology at Microsoft, Tangram Enterprise Solutions, and General Electric, as well as leadership positions at the Seattle Transplant House and the University of Washington's Kidney Research Institute. This breadth of experience — spanning corporate strategy, transplant services, and academic research — uniquely positions her to bridge institutional, clinical, and community perspectives.
Her APOL1 leadership is both deep and foundational. Roberts contributed to the Delphi Consensus process that established the name APOL1-Mediated Kidney Disease, co-chaired the Kidney Health Initiative APOL1 Roadmap Education Committee, and co-chairs the KPMP Community Engagement Committee Scientific Working Group genetic return-of-results projects. She serves as Inaugural Chair of the Maze Therapeutics APOL1 Patient Advisory Committee and is an active member of the APOL1-Mediated Kidney Disease (AMKD) Coalition. Her scholarship on structural racism as a contributor to APOL1 kidney disease disparities has advanced national dialogue on equity in nephrology research.
Roberts serves on the Kidney Health Initiative Board of Directors, the KDIGO 2024 CKD Guideline and 2026 Update as Patient Representative, and the American Heart Association Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic Patient Advisory Committee. She is Vice Chair of the LifeCenter Northwest Organ Procurement Organization Advisory Board and Co-Chair of the Critical Path Institute Biomarker Data Repository Governance. She is an ambassador for the National Kidney Foundation, the American Kidney Fund, and the American Association of Kidney Patients, and is active on more than fifteen additional advisory committees and boards focused on kidney, cardiovascular, and metabolic health.
Living with kidney disease for more than fifty years, Roberts underwent dialysis and received a transplant in 2010. Since then, she has completed nine half-marathons — a testament to the resilience she brings to every dimension of her work. Her honors include the American Society of Nephrology President's Medal, the National Kidney Foundation Celeste Castillo Lee Patient Engagement Award, the Derek Forfang Patient Engagement Award, and the Presidential Volunteer Service Award. She has authored more than fifty publications in seven years and resides in Washington State.
James W. Lillard, Jr., PhD, MBA
Board Member
- National Academy of Inventors Fellow
- American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow
- Distinguished Fellow of the American Association of Immunologists
- 52 h-index |95 i10-index | 13,345citations
Academic Appointments
- Professor, Microbiology, Biochemistry & Immunology
- Senior Associate Dean for Research, Innovation, & Commercialization
- Director, Tech Transfer Office & GRA Ventures at Morehouse School of Medicine
- Founding Program Director: MS Biotechnology and MS Health Informatics Programs
Industry Appointments
- FasterCures Health Equity Advisory Council – Milken Institute
- Scientific Advisory Board Member – Frederick National Laboratory
- BOD Member – Personalized Medicine Coalition
- BOA Member – DevMar Manufacturing, LLC
- Founder – JYANT Technologies, Inc.
- BOD Representative – Georgia Trulieve, Inc. (past)
- Scientific Medical Advisory Board Member – Ciitizen (past)
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. 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 of Immunology at Morehouse School of Medicine and the University of Louisville School of Medicine, and completed an 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. 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 program. Dr. Lillard serves as the Senior Associate Dean for Research, Innovation, and Commercialization at Morehouse School of Medicine. Dr. Lillard established the Office of Technology Transfer, where he serves as Director and overseen the creation of startups that have raised over $250 million. Notably, he led negotiations (and inventor) for licensing patent rights for the use of Atrasentan to treat IgAN, which received FDA approval 4/2025.
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 protein-coupled 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 over his scientific career exceeds $100 million and he has authored over 300 scientific communications, which have been cited over 13,000 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 recognized as indicated by his appointment as a NAI Fellow, AAAS Fellow, AAI Distinguished Fellow, and service on boards including the Milken Institute, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Personalized Medicine Coalition, Trulieve, and Ciitizen as well as scientific reviewer for the AACR, DoD, FDA, NIH, VA, industry advisory boards and study sections.
Sharron Rouse
President & Co-Founder
Sharron S. Rouse is a dedicated leader and transplant survivor known for her resilience and community-driven advocacy. With deep expertise in education and nonprofit management, she founded SR Consulting Services LLC and co-founded the APOL1 Action Alliance to foster progress in healthcare and patient education.
As the founder of Kindness for Kidneys International, Inc., Sharron transforms personal experience into meaningful support, leading nationally recognized programs that assist thousands of kidney warriors each year. Her professional influence extends to various high-level advisory boards and patient advocacy committees.
A multi-award-winning advocate, including two Presidential Volunteer Service Awards, Sharron continues to champion patient empowerment through public speaking and policy reform. She resides in Maryland with her husband and daughter.
Richard A. Knight, MBA
Vice President & Co-Founder
Richard A. Knight is a kidney transplant recipient of twenty years, a former hemodialysis patient, and one of the nation’s most respected voices in kidney health advocacy. His personal experience with kidney disease is the foundation of a career dedicated to transforming how patients access care, education, and representation.
As Co-Founder and Vice President of the APOL1 Action Alliance, Richard brings decades of advocacy leadership, institutional relationships, and strategic vision to the organization’s mission of advancing health equity for communities disproportionately affected by APOL1-mediated kidney disease. Richard previously served as President of the American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP) and currently serves as an Adjunct Instructor and founding member of the College of Business Advisory Council at Bowie State University. He also serves as Treasurer and Board Member of the Personalized Medicine Coalition, where he advocates for precision medicine approaches that benefit both patients and health systems.
Richard’s advocacy has been recognized with the President’s Volunteer Service Award (2020) and the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award (2022), as well as the American Society of Nephrology President’s Award (2017). His research and commentary have been published in peer-reviewed journals including the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, Nature, Clinical Transplantation, the American Journal of Kidney Disease, and Patient Education and Counseling.
At APOL1 Action Alliance, Richard serves as the organizational strategist, leading pharmaceutical partnerships, board development, and long-term sustainability — ensuring that the communities most vulnerable to APOL1-mediated kidney disease are equipped, informed, and never left behind.
Barbara Harrison
Board Member
Barbara Harrison, MS, CGC is a certified genetic counselor and clinical assistant professor at Howard University College of Medicine. She provides clinical genetic counseling services across a range of indications, including OB/GYN, cardiology and nephrology. She has done extensive work in increasing equity in genomic medicine, from engaging underserved patient communities in research and clinical care, to leading efforts to diverse the genomic workforce.
Marva Moxey-Mims, MD, FASN
Board Member
Dr. Moxey-Mims is Chief of the Division of Nephrology at Children’s National Hospital, Washington, D.C., and Professor of Pediatrics at The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. She was previously at the National Institute of Diabetes, and Digestive, and Kidney Diseases at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) where she served as Director of the Pediatric Nephrology program and Deputy Director for clinical science in the Division of Kidney, Urologic, and Hematologic Diseases, overseeing a portfolio of research including trials for kidney disease and genitourinary dysfunction in adults and children. She had oversight of the FSGS Clinical Trial, which included children and adults. Two of the exclusively pediatric studies that she initiated, are the Randomized Intervention for Children with Vesicoureteral Reflux (RIVUR) trial, undertaken to understand the effectiveness of prophylactic antimicrobial treatment in children with VUR and the ongoing Chronic Kidney Disease in Children (CKiD) study.
Dr. Moxey-Mims received her undergraduate degree from McGill University, Montreal, Canada, and her MD from Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, DC. She has more than 120 publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals. She has had a longstanding interest in the disparities seen in kidney disease and potential underlying causes and is currently the Steering Committee Chair of the NIH-funded APOLLO study, which is assessing the impact of the APOL1 genotype on the longevity of kidney allografts.
Kevin Fowler
Board Member
Kevin Fowler worked in the pharmaceutical industry for over 25 years in both the commercial and R&D organizations. His career has encompassed a breadth and depth of skills and experiences. During his pharma career, he demonstrated leadership in sales management, training, public affairs, global marketing, patient advocacy, and patient marketing. He formed his own patient advocacy and patient engagement consulting business in 2014, “The Voice of the Patient, Inc. His clients currently include Alexion , Akebia, Biogen, Dimerix, eGenesis, Memo Therapeutics,Travere Therapeutics, Phreesia, ProKidney, Tonix, Veloxis In 2017, Kevin was selected to be a Patient Editor, Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. In 2023, he was asked to serve a second term as Patient Voice Editor. In 2021, Kevin was awarded the American Society of Transplantation Transplant Advocacy Award. He has contributed or been primary author in over 25 articles published in the American Journal of Kidney Disease, American Journal of Transplantation, Clinical Journal of American Society of Nephrology, and Kidney Medicine.
Based upon his personal experiences of having a pre-emptive kidney transplant in 2004, he has a deep passion for patient advocacy and patient engagement. Kevin brings the patient voice to several organizations as a volunteer:
Kidney Research Institute, Patient Advisory Committee
National Kidney Foundation, Coalition for Kidney Health
Board of Directors, Improving Renal Outcomes in Children (IROC)
Global Renal Exercise Network
Janice P. Lea, MD, MSc, FASN
Board Member
Dr. Janice P. Lea, MD, MSc, FASN is a Distinguished Professor of Medicine at Emory University and the Division Director for Renal Medicine. She earned her medical degree at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and completed her residency in Internal Medicine and a Nephrology fellowship at Emory. She also received a Masters of Science Degree in Clinical Research from Emory’s School of Public Health. She has served on the Emory renal faculty for 30 years and has mentored and educated numerous research and clinical postgraduate students.
Dr. Lea’s research and clinical expertise are in Hypertension, Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), Kidney Health Disparities, and Dialysis care. Dr. Lea is designated as a Hypertension Specialist and is an active member of the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) and an executive board member of the American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP). She was appointed to the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Nephrology board in 2022.
Dr. Lea was honored with the AAKP Medical of Excellence Award, the highest accolade bestowed by patients upon a physician, and received a Gold Medal US President’s award for her dedication to educating patients during the COVID pandemic. Dr. Lea also has been named one of Atlanta’s Top Doctors for the last 15 years.
Dr. Lea is engaged in cutting-edge research, including NIH and industry/foundation supported trials centered around health disparities in CKD, improving dialysis care and outcomes, APOL1-Mediated Kidney Disease, and several trials related to novel therapies in Hypertension involving renal denervation. Early in her career she was the Principal Investigator (PI) for the NIH landmark study- “African-American Study of Kidney Disease and Hypertension” and more recently the PI for a PCORI grant focused on developing a mentorship program for patients with CKD. Dr. Lea is extensively published and has been a co-author on several nephrology/hypertension clinical guideline papers on subject matter related to hypertension, CKD, and dialysis, and thus is recognized as a national thought leader in the renal community.
Glenda V. Roberts
Board Member
Glenda V. Roberts is a member of the Board of Directors of the APOL1 Action Alliance. She serves as Director of Communications and Patient Engagement at the Mount Sinai Center for Kidney Disease Innovation and as Director of Communications for the Kidney Precision Medicine Project. In these roles, she leads advocacy and strategic communications for NIH-funded kidney innovation projects and advances patient-centered approaches to precision nephrology research.
Roberts brings a distinguished cross-sector career to her board service, with executive roles in Information Technology at Microsoft, Tangram Enterprise Solutions, and General Electric, as well as leadership positions at the Seattle Transplant House and the University of Washington's Kidney Research Institute. This breadth of experience — spanning corporate strategy, transplant services, and academic research — uniquely positions her to bridge institutional, clinical, and community perspectives.
Her APOL1 leadership is both deep and foundational. Roberts contributed to the Delphi Consensus process that established the name APOL1-Mediated Kidney Disease, co-chaired the Kidney Health Initiative APOL1 Roadmap Education Committee, and co-chairs the KPMP Community Engagement Committee Scientific Working Group genetic return-of-results projects. She serves as Inaugural Chair of the Maze Therapeutics APOL1 Patient Advisory Committee and is an active member of the APOL1-Mediated Kidney Disease (AMKD) Coalition. Her scholarship on structural racism as a contributor to APOL1 kidney disease disparities has advanced national dialogue on equity in nephrology research.
Roberts serves on the Kidney Health Initiative Board of Directors, the KDIGO 2024 CKD Guideline and 2026 Update as Patient Representative, and the American Heart Association Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic Patient Advisory Committee. She is Vice Chair of the LifeCenter Northwest Organ Procurement Organization Advisory Board and Co-Chair of the Critical Path Institute Biomarker Data Repository Governance. She is an ambassador for the National Kidney Foundation, the American Kidney Fund, and the American Association of Kidney Patients, and is active on more than fifteen additional advisory committees and boards focused on kidney, cardiovascular, and metabolic health.
Living with kidney disease for more than fifty years, Roberts underwent dialysis and received a transplant in 2010. Since then, she has completed nine half-marathons — a testament to the resilience she brings to every dimension of her work. Her honors include the American Society of Nephrology President's Medal, the National Kidney Foundation Celeste Castillo Lee Patient Engagement Award, the Derek Forfang Patient Engagement Award, and the Presidential Volunteer Service Award. She has authored more than fifty publications in seven years and resides in Washington State.
James W. Lillard, Jr., PhD, MBA
Board Member
- National Academy of Inventors Fellow
- American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow
- Distinguished Fellow of the American Association of Immunologists
- 52 h-index |95 i10-index | 13,345citations
Academic Appointments
- Professor, Microbiology, Biochemistry & Immunology
- Senior Associate Dean for Research, Innovation, & Commercialization
- Director, Tech Transfer Office & GRA Ventures at Morehouse School of Medicine
- Founding Program Director: MS Biotechnology and MS Health Informatics Programs
Industry Appointments
- FasterCures Health Equity Advisory Council – Milken Institute
- Scientific Advisory Board Member – Frederick National Laboratory
- BOD Member – Personalized Medicine Coalition
- BOA Member – DevMar Manufacturing, LLC
- Founder – JYANT Technologies, Inc.
- BOD Representative – Georgia Trulieve, Inc. (past)
- Scientific Medical Advisory Board Member – Ciitizen (past)
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. 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 of Immunology at Morehouse School of Medicine and the University of Louisville School of Medicine, and completed an 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. 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 program. Dr. Lillard serves as the Senior Associate Dean for Research, Innovation, and Commercialization at Morehouse School of Medicine. Dr. Lillard established the Office of Technology Transfer, where he serves as Director and overseen the creation of startups that have raised over $250 million. Notably, he led negotiations (and inventor) for licensing patent rights for the use of Atrasentan to treat IgAN, which received FDA approval 4/2025.
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 protein-coupled 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 over his scientific career exceeds $100 million and he has authored over 300 scientific communications, which have been cited over 13,000 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 recognized as indicated by his appointment as a NAI Fellow, AAAS Fellow, AAI Distinguished Fellow, and service on boards including the Milken Institute, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Personalized Medicine Coalition, Trulieve, and Ciitizen as well as scientific reviewer for the AACR, DoD, FDA, NIH, VA, industry advisory boards and study sections.