James Zimring

Dr. James Zimring has served as Chief Science Officer at Canadian Blood Services since 2025 and is a Professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of British Columbia's Centre for Blood Research. Previously, he held academic leadership positions at the University of Virginia, the University of Washington, Emory University, and Bloodworks Northwest Research Institute, where he served as Chief Scientific Officer and Director.
 

Dr. Zimring earned his MD and PhD in Immunology from Emory University and is board-certified in Clinical Pathology with subspecialty certification in Transfusion Medicine.
 

An internationally recognized physician-scientist, Dr. Zimring has led a research program for more than 24 years and has authored over 210 peer-reviewed publications. His research spans basic, translational, and clinical science, with a particular focus on transfusion immunology and the biology of red blood cells and platelets. He is also committed to mentoring the next generation of scientists and clinician-researchers.
 

In addition to his research contributions, Dr. Zimring has published two books on scientific reasoning and ethics: What Science Is and How It Really Works (Cambridge University Press, 2019) and Partial Truths: How Fractions Distort Our Thinking (Columbia University Press, 2022). He is a frequent speaker on science, critical thinking, and public engagement.
 

Research areas

• alloimmunity in transfusion and transplantation
• oxidant stress biology in health and disease

Other appointments

• Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies (AABB), 2002 - present
• American Association of Immunologists (AAI), 2004 - present
• College of American Pathologists, 2009 - present
• Elected Member, American Association of University Pathologists , 2010 - present
• Elected Member, American Society for Clinical Investigation, 2011 - present
• International Society of Blood Transfusion, 2024- present

Research interests

Dr. Zimring's research focuses on the mechanisms of afferent (sensitization) and efferent (response) alloimmunity in transfusion and transplantation, including alloantibody formation following transfusion and pregnancy, hemolytic transfusion reactions, platelet refractoriness, and fetal-maternal alloimmunity. His work also examines oxidative stress biology in red blood cells, with particular emphasis on glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency and the pharmacotoxicology of drugs that induce hemolysis in G6PD-deficient individuals.
 

Using both animal models and human studies, his research incorporates proteomic, metabolomic, and genome-wide association approaches to identify novel biological pathways relevant to transfusion medicine, including investigations of the red blood cell metabolome and the discovery of novel gene associations. Dr. Zimring also studies personalized laboratory diagnostics, exploring how clinical tests perform differently based on an individual's genetic background. Work in the above areas has resulted in 14 patent applications, of which 10 have been issued.
 

In addition, Dr. Zimring pursues scholarly work in scientific logic, epistemology, and cognitive psychology in research in the biological sciences.