James R. Baker, Jr.

About this team member

James R. Baker, Jr., M.D., Director of the Michigan Nanotechnology Institute for Medicine and the Biological Sciences (M-NIMBS), completed his undergraduate education at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. After an internship and internal medicine residency at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., he completed an Allergy and Clinical Immunology Fellowship, also at Walter Reed and at NIAID. In 1988, Dr. Baker was appointed as Associate Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Surgery at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. He joined the faculty of the University of Michigan in 1989. In 1993, Dr. Baker was appointed as Chief of the Division of Allergy in the Department of Internal Medicine. He was promoted to Professor of Internal Medicine on May 17, 1996. In June of 2001 Dr. Baker was inaugurated as the first recipient of the Ruth Dow Doan Endowed Professorship in Biologic Nanotechnology. Because Dr. Baker has distinguished himself as both a national and an international leader in the field of biologic nanotechnology, in October of 2001 he was named as the first recipient of the U-M Dean’s Innovation Award. In June, 2003, he was appointed to serve as a member of the newly formed Nanotechnology Technical Advisory Group (N-TAG) of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) to the Executive Office of the President of the United States. In September, 2004, Dr. Baker was named as one of the three editors of the National Nanotechnology Initiatives’ research directives. He is a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) and is the only physician on this important Office of Science and Technology Policy committee. Dr. Baker presently serves as Co-Chair of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology’s Vaccines and Biological Threats Committee. He also serves as a board member representing the University of Michigan on the Region V Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases (the Great Lakes Regional Centers of Excellence). He is a 14-year veteran of service in the U.S. Military, 12 of which were on active duty, including service during Operation Desert Storm.