Dr. Jim SchaferThe James A. Schafer Lecture is an annual lecture series as part of the annual Renal Symposium at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

James A. Schafer, PhD, was a Professor in the Department of Medicine, Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology.

He was born in 1941 in Buffalo, NY, where he received his education through high school. He attended the University of Michigan, receiving his BS in Biophysics in 1964, and his PhD in 1968. He received one year postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Erich Heinz at the Gustav-Embden Center for Biochemistry in Frankfurt, Germany, followed by a year with Thomas E. Andreoli, MD, at Duke University. He moved to the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) with Dr. Andreoli in 1970, as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, Physiology and Biophysics where he remained over 25 years.

Dr. Schafer was a founding member of the Division of Nephrology in the Department of Medicine. He served as an editor of the American Journal of Physiology: Renal, Fluid and Electrolyte Physiology, President of the American Physiological Society and was elected Secretary-Treasurer and member of the Council of the American Society of Nephrology. He was a recipient of numerous teaching awards at UAB including the UAB President's Achievement Award as well as the Homer Smith Award from the American Society of Nephrology.