William James combines expertise in molecular cell virology with strengths in innovating cellular systems and nucleic acid methodologies to investigate critical questions of viral and inflammatory pathogenesis. Frustrated by the inability to ask precise molecular questions concerning the biology of HIV-1 in human macrophages, his group developed the first reported system for generating such cells from pluripotent stem cells. Under the direction of Dr. Sally Cowley, the group has published many refinements and developments of these methods and has used them to gain unique insights into the molecular pathways involved in viral pathogenesis (including that of HIV-1, SARS-CoV-2 and Zika) and neuroinflammation. Dr. James recently secured philanthropic funding to endow the Stem Cell Facility in Oxford in perpetuity. He has extensive leadership experience (for example, as provost-equivalent at Oxford University), and he has chaired international research review committees and gained recognition as an innovative teacher.