2001 Innovations Award

James R. Baker, Jr., M.D., professor, Allergy and Immunology, internal medicine director, Center for Biologic Nanotechnology

Dr. Baker has been a national and international leader in the field of "nano biology" and has brought considerable attention to the University of Michigan for his efforts in establishing a Center for Biologic Nanotechnology and has since been the Director since 1998.

More recently, he was assigned the Co-Directorship for the Center for Biomedical Engineering. Dr. Baker remains one of the most highly funded investigators at the University of Michigan.
The innovative aspect of Dr. Baker's efforts can be summarized into two main fields of investigation. First, through his work with the Dow Corporation, Dr. Baker and his group have developed the use of dendrimer polymers as significant nanobiologic agents for use in a wide application of processes. The second main area of Dr. Baker's work concerns the use of lipid emulsions as antimicrobial agents.

These micro-emulsions have been demonstrated to have applicability for the treatment of a wide range of agents from viruses to fungi. More importantly, these lipid emulsion agents are active against several organisms that would be used either in biological warfare or bio-terrorism. This work has received considerable attention through the Department of Defense, and may have a significant impact for the national defense of the United States. Dr. Baker is widely regarded as a prime innovator in the field of biological warfare protection and decontamination.

Dr. Baker was recruited to the University of Michigan in 1989, where he was Director of the Transplant and Immunology Research at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, DC. After joining the University of Michigan faculty he assumed responsibilities for the Director of the Histocompatibility Laboratory, and in 1993 became Chief of the Division of Allergy. Dr. Baker rapidly moved through the ranks and became a Professor of Internal Medicine with tenure in 1996. He earned his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees Cum Laude at Williams College in 1975.

Dr. Baker obtained his M.D. from Loyola-Strich School of Medicine in Maywood, Illinois in 1978. From that point, he completed a Flexible Internship in 1979 and an Internal Medicine Residence in 1981 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He was selected to do a Allergy and Clinical Immunology Fellowship at Walter Reed in combination with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Maryland.