James S. Rush is an expert immunologist and drug development scientist with extensive experience leading successful preclinical and clinical research and development for novel therapeutics in immunology, inflammation, nephrology and transplantation. Originally from Australia, James received his Bachelors in Applied Science (Hons) from the University of Western Sydney in 1994 and Ph.D. from Sydney University in 2000. He completed a HHMI postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University in the laboratories of David Schatz and Charlie Janeway. After his postdoctoral work, he joined the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation in San Diego in May 2005 where his lab utilized high throughput genomics and small molecule screening technologies to identify novel regulators of innate immune receptor and B cell function. He then moved to the Autoimmunity, Transplantation and Inflammation (ATI) disease area at Novartis in 2008 to lead a project team working on the development of a novel immunomodulatory antibody (CFZ533) targeting the CD40 receptor that has achieved positive clinical proof-of-concept in kidney transplantation and Sjögren’s syndrome. He has concurrently led the Translational Research group in ATI over the past four years; this group has focused on the profiling and analyses of human disease samples, multi-omics profiling and bioinformatics analyses to understand disease biology and inform clinical development at a portfolio level. He has recently transitioned into a dual research and commercial role as a Global New Products Director in the Immunology, Hepatology and Dermatology business franchise at Novartis where he is responsible for providing commercial input and strategic guidance to early stage R&D programs and in-licensing opportunities in autoimmunity and rheumatology.