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2008 TEXAS PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY FORUM KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

James S. Marks, Sr VP, Director Health Group

James S. Marks, M.D., M.P.H., senior vice president, directs all program and administrative activities of the RWJF Health Group. Drawn to the Foundation by its “idealism and passion for its mission,” Marks believes that RWJF’s strong reputation and flexibility in grantmaking enable it to pursue sustained changes to meet the new challenges and opportunities facing the nation in health and health care. A physician with a distinguished record of leadership in government public health, Marks singles out the Foundation’s overt support for both research and action, which stimulates a creative tension that makes RWJF’s research more practical and its fieldwork more effective.

Before joining RWJF in December 2004, Marks was an assistant surgeon general and had directed CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion for almost a decade. He recalls his time with CDC as a vibrant period in which the Centers succeeded in raising the prominence of some of the nation’s most difficult health issues, especially those affecting the poor and underserved. Throughout his tenure at CDC, Marks developed and advanced systematic ways to prevent and detect diseases such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes, to reduce tobacco use, and to address the nation’s growing epidemic of obesity.

Marks has received numerous federal, state, and private awards, including the U.S. Public Health Service Distinguished Service Award, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists’ Pump Handle Award, the Association of State and Territorial Chronic Disease Directors’ Award for Excellence, the American Cancer Society’s Distinguished Service Award, and the National Arthritis Foundation’s Special Award of Appreciation. In 2004, he was elected as a member of the Institute of Medicine and currently serves on its Membership Committee. He is also vice chair of the board of directors of C-Change, whose members are the nation’s key cancer leaders from government, business, and nonprofit sectors. Over the last 25 years, he has served on more than 75 committees devoted to advancing the medical sciences, health care, and public health. He has published extensively in the areas of maternal and child health, health promotion and chronic disease prevention, and has served on many government and nonprofit boards and committees devoted to improving the public’s health.

Born in Buffalo, N.Y., Marks’ father was a “country doctor” who later worked in occupational medicine. His mother was an art teacher. He received an M.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He trained as a pediatrician at the University of California at San Francisco, and was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at Yale University, where he received his M.P.H. He and his wife, Judi, a retired high school guidance counselor, live in Princeton and have two children, both pursuing careers in medicine.

Photo and biography courtesy of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.