David James

David Ernest James (born in Sydney in 1958) is a cell biologist who discovered the glucose transporter GLUT4. He has also been responsible for the molecular dissection of the intracellular trafficking pathways that regulate GLUT4 translocation to the cell surface, the topological mapping of the insulin signal transduction pathway, the creation of a method for studying in vivo metabolism in small animals, and the use of this method to gain insights into whole-animal fuel metabolism and homeostasis. He currently holds joint appointments as the Leonard P Ullmann Chair in Molecular Systems Biology and as the Domain Leader for Biology for the Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney. Subsequently, he pursued postdoctoral research at Boston University and Washington University in St. Louis in the US. In 1993 he returned to Australia, first to Brisbane and then once again at the Garvan Institute.

In 1989 he established his own independent career as Assistant Professor at Washington University in St Louis where he continued his work on GLUT4.

In 1993 he returned to Australia on a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowship taking up a position at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience in Brisbane.

In 2002 he moved to Sydney to head up the Diabetes and Obesity Research Program at the Garvan Institute as an NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow where he remained until February 2014.

In 2014 he moved to the University of Sydney. He currently holds joint appointments as the Leonard P Ullmann Chair in Molecular Systems Biology and as the Domain Leader for Biology for the Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney.

Awards and honours 1993–1997: Wellcome Trust Research Fellowship 1999: Glaxo Wellcome Australia Medal 2000: Mary Kugel Award for services to the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation 2006: Kellion Award from the Australian Diabetes Society 2007: Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science 2008: Millennium Award, Diabetes Australian Research Trust 2014: ANZCDBS President's Medal 2016: NSW Premier's Prize for Medical Research 2017: Awarded Best Speaker at F1000 Winter School 2018: Basic Science Lecturer, Cardiac Society Australia and New Zealand Annual General Meeting 2019: Honorary Doctorate, University of Copenhagen 2020: Australian Laureate Fellowship 2020: Vice-Chancellor's Award for the Outstanding Educational Engagement and Innovation category, The University of Sydney 2023: Australian Diabetes Society Lifetime Achievement Award