James E.K. Hildreth, Ph.D., M.D. is the 12th president and chief executive officer of Meharry Medical College, the nation’s largest private, independent historically Black academic health sciences center. In 2002, Dr. Hildreth became the first African American in the 125-year history of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine to earn full professorship with tenure in basic sciences. In July 2005, Dr. Hildreth became director of the NIH-funded Center for AIDS Health Disparities Research at Meharry Medical College. In August of 2011, Dr. Hildreth became dean of the College of Biological Sciences at University of California, Davis. He was the first African-American dean in the university, which was founded in 1905. Dr. Hildreth received numerous awards for his research, commitment to diversity in medicine, biomedical research and service to communities. Dr. Hildreth has been appointed to two FDA advisory committees: Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) and Antimicrobial Drugs Advisory Committee (AMDAC), these panels reviews COVID-19 vaccines and drugs respectively for approval. In February of 2021, he was appointed by President Biden to the COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force. He currently serves on the Advisory Council to the NIH Director, as chair of the Veteran’s Administration National Academic Affiliations Council and the board of directors of the Association of Academic Health Centers. Dr. Hildreth serves on several other boards including chair of the board of the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.
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