Aaron James, MD, PhD

Dr. James is a Professor in Pathology, physician-scientist and bone pathologist, with research interests in the regulation of musculoskeletal repair.  Dr. James received his M.D. with thesis from the University of California, San Francisco with research at Stanford University. Dr. James performed his residency in Anatomic Pathology and fellowships in Orthopaedic Pathology and Surgical Pathology at the University of California, Los Angeles. He received his Ph.D. in bone biology and osteoprogenitor cells from University of California, Los Angeles.

Dr. James is an author on over 200 peer-reviewed journal articles, 50 review articles, 16 book chapters, and one textbook.  His research career has been focused on bone biology, bone healing, and mesenchymal progenitor cells.  One of his primary interests is in the crosstalk between sensory nerves and skeletal cells during tissue development, repair and in musculoskeletal pathologies. Many of the publications from Dr. James’ group are in prestigious journals with high impact factors, including Science, Science Translational Medicine, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Nature Communications, and PNAS among many others.  

Dr. James is recognized at the international level as an expert in his field of bone pathobiology and its intersection with the stem cell sciences.  This recognition is supported by the fact that Dr. James serves on the editorial boards of 8 journals, including Bone Research and American Journal of Pathology among others.  Dr. James is an active member of the American Society of Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR), and Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS).  He has a long history of serving on study sections for the NIH and other federal organizations as a standing study section member (MTE, 2021-2026) or ad hoc member. Dr. James has given numerous invited lectures at the national and international levels.

Dr. James is an active educator at several levels within the School of Medicine.  Dr. James co-directs an annual two-week course to medical students in Rheumatology and Orthopaedics.  In this role, he coordinates the lecture series and virtual microscopy sessions, and delivers lectures on bone biology, metabolic bone disease, joint disease, and skeletal tumors.  Dr. James serves as the Associate Director for the Residency Training Program for Research.  In addition, Dr. James also serves as Co-Director of the Pathobiology graduate program, which trains the next generation of PhDs in biomedical science directly relevant to human medicine and health care.