James R. Gavin III - PHA Board Chair Emeritus

James R. Gavin III, MD, PhD is Chair Emeritus of the Partnership for a Healthier America’s Board of Directors, having previously served as Chairman from 2010 until 2020. He is a widely respected academic and entrepreneur in the medical community who brings a deep knowledge of childhood obesity-related illnesses and the policy and environmental influences that contribute to childhood obesity.

Dr. Gavin is a clinical professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine and clinical professor of medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine. He currently serves as chief executive officer and chief medical officer of Healing Our Village, Inc.

Previously, he served as president and chief executive officer of MicroIslet, Inc., as well as president of the Morehouse School of Medicine, senior scientific officer at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), and director of the HHMI–National Institutes of Health Research Scholars Program. Dr. Gavin was also a professor and chief of the Diabetes Section, acting chief of the Section on Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Hypertension, and William K. Warren Professor for Diabetes Studies at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.

In addition, he served as an associate professor of medicine at Washington University School of Medicine, as well as a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Public Health Service, where he continues to serve as a reserve officer. Dr. Gavin belongs to a number of organizations, including the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Diabetes Association, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, the Endocrine Society, the American Society of Clinical Investigation, and the American Association of Physicians.

Dr. Gavin graduated from Livingstone College with a degree in chemistry, and earned his PhD in biochemistry from Emory University, as well as his MD degree from Duke University School of Medicine.