About
Physician-scientist, uveitis expert, teacher, essayist, and consultant.
James T. Rosenbaum, M.D. is one of the world's foremost authorities on uveitis — inflammation inside the eye — and ocular inflammatory disease, with a career spanning more than four decades at the intersection of rheumatology and ophthalmology.
He was educated at Lincoln High School in Portland, Oregon; Harvard College (A.B., magna cum laude, Social Relations); and Yale University School of Medicine (M.D. with Honors). He completed postdoctoral internal medicine training and a fellowship in immunology at Stanford University, the latter under the mentorship of the distinguished immunologist Hugh O. McDevitt, M.D.
Dr. Rosenbaum served for decades as Professor of Ophthalmology, Medicine, and Cell Biology at Oregon Health & Science University, where he founded and led the OHSU Uveitis Clinic from 1985 to 2017. Concurrently he held the Edward E Rosenbaum Professorship and chaired the Division of Arthritis and Rheumatic Diseases for 21 years. From 2012 to 2019 he additionally served as Chief of Ophthalmology and Richard Chenoweth Chair at the Legacy Devers Eye Institute in Portland, Oregon, and most recently as Senior Vice-President for Research at Corvus Pharmaceuticals from July 2022 until January 2025.
Based on an objective evaluation of his publications, he ranked first in the world for impact on the field of uveitis by ExpertScape every year from 2013 to 2024.
He has served on multiple NIH review panels and has trained generations of ophthalmologists, rheumatologists, and basic scientists now leading programs worldwide. He received 41 years of continuous NIH funding as principal investigator of R01 grants, as well as serving as principal investigator on a core grant and a training grant, and has mentored many recipients of K awards for career development.
Education
- Lincoln High School, Portland, Oregon 1967
- Harvard College — A.B., magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa 1971
- Yale University School of Medicine — M.D. with Honors 1975
- Internal medicine residency and immunology fellowship, Stanford University
Current roles
- Chief of Ophthalmology (Emeritus), Legacy Devers Eye Institute
- Richard Chenoweth Chair (Emeritus), Legacy Devers Eye Institute
- Chair, Medical & Scientific Advisory Board, Spondylitis Association of America 2025–2027
- Member, National Advisory Council, Rheumatology Research Foundation 2025–
- Co-chair, ReViSe (Retinal Vasculitis Study), International Uveitis Study Group
- Essayist
- Biopharmaceutical consultant
- Medical-legal consultant
Representative named lectureships
- Alta Lectureship, University of California, San Francisco 2013
- Nancy and James Cassidy Lectureship, University of Missouri 2014
- Dunlop Dottridge Lecture, Canadian Rheumatology Association 2015
- Morris Ziff Lectureship, University of Texas Southwestern 2017
- Keltner Lecture, University of California, Davis 2018
- Breinin Lecture, New York University Department of Ophthalmology 2018
- Paul Strottmann Lecture, University of Iowa 2018
- Dines Lecture, Mayo Clinic 2018
- Bajandas Lectureship, University of Texas, San Antonio 2026
- Patrick Mroczkowski Memorial Grand Rounds, Albany Medical Center, Albany, New York 2026
Upcoming
- Meet the Professor session, American College of Rheumatology Annual Meeting Nov 2026
Honors and awards
A selection from more than four decades.
- National Merit Scholar
- John Harvard Scholar
- A.B., magna cum laude; Phi Beta Kappa 1971
- M.D. with Honors 1975
- Arthritis Foundation Fellowship 1978–1981
- New Investigator Research Award, National Institutes of Health 1981–1984
- Dolly Green Scholar Award, Research to Prevent Blindness 1986
- Listed, Best Doctors in America
- Senior Scholar Award, Research to Prevent Blindness 1994
- Dean's Award, Oregon Health & Science University 1995
- Discovery Award, Medical Research Foundation 2001
- Edward E Rosenbaum Professor of Inflammatory Diseases 2001–2022
- Senior Scholar Award, Research to Prevent Blindness 2002
- Dean's Award for Faculty Excellence in Teaching, OHSU 2002
- Experimental Uveitis Research Award, Deutsche Uveitis Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DUAG)
- German Uveitis Patient Interest Group Award multiple years
- OHSU Student Council Faculty Award 2011
- ARVO Friedenwald Award 2011
- Portland's Top Doctors 2012
- Cless Lectureship, University of Illinois, Chicago — best lecture at the annual ARVO meeting 2012
- Listed, The Leading Physicians of the World 2012
- International Uveitis Study Group Foundation Gold Medal 2012
- Editorial board, PLoS One 2012–2022
- Distinguished Clinician Scholar Award, American College of Rheumatology — awarded to one rheumatologist annually 2013
- NIH Review Panel, Human Microbiome Project, Phase II 2013
- Von Szily Medal, German Ophthalmological Society 2014
- Ad hoc member, NIH review panels for NEI core grants and Diseases and Pathophysiology of the Visual System 2014
- Reviewer, Uitzicht 2014
- Reviewer, European Commission 2014
- Reviewer, Beckman Argyros Award 2015
- Alcon Research Institute Scholar 2015
- Master, American College of Rheumatology — elected 2016
- OHSU Clinical Star Award 2017–18
- Innovative Research Award, American College of Rheumatology 2019–2021, 2021–2023
- Advisory Board, USERN (Universal Scientific Education and Research Network) 2021
- Volunteer Physician of the Year, Spondylitis Association of America — initial awardee 2021
- Reviewer, Sight Research UK 2022
- Research Achievement Award, SPARTAN (Spondyloarthritis Research and Treatment Network) 2022
- Keynote speaker, Foster Ocular Immunology Society 25th Anniversary 2022
- Distinguished Service Award, American College of Rheumatology 2022
- Innovative Research Award, American College of Rheumatology 2022–2024
- ExpertScape ranking for impact on the field of uveitis — first in the world 2013–2024
- Inaugural recipient, Manfred Zierhut Teaching Award, International Uveitis Study Group, presented in Chandigarh, India 2024
- Career Achievement Award, Northwest Rheumatism Society 2025
- Research Appreciation Award, International Uveitis Study Group 2026