James is a clinician-scientist with a longstanding focus on better understanding the biology of immune-mediated disease, and the translation of that knowledge for patient benefit. He has clinical expertise in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and is an active member of the UK and International IBD Genetics Consortia.

James has a track record of translating his research for clinical benefit - helping convert initial discoveries from his PhD into a prognostic biomarker that has since been validated, licensed, and made available for patients via a spin-out company. James' work has provided insights into why patients with the same disease often experience different outcomes, including the discovery of a genetic contribution to prognosis that is distinct from the contribution to disease susceptibility. More recently, James' group have developed approaches to leverage genetic associations to provide insights into disease mechanisms.  

In 2014, James was named as the inaugural "Young Gastroenterologist of the Year - Clinical and Translational Science" by the British Society of Gastroenterology and has since been awarded the Julia Bodmer Award (European Federation of Immunogenetics, 2017), the Sir Francis Avery-Jones Medal (British Society of Gastroenterology, 2018), and the United European Gastroenterology Society Rising Star Award (2018). He is an editorial board member at Gut and Research Awards Panel member for Crohn’s and Colitis UK.