James P. McCulley, M.D. was born in Fort Worth, Texas, and received a bachelor’s degree from Texas Christian University (Alpha Chi Honor Society). He graduated from Washington University School of Medicine and was a member of AOA. He subsequently did a straight medical internship on the Harvard Medical Service at Boston City Hospital prior to five years of training at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (MEEI), which encompassed residency as well as a corneal fellowship.
He is a Diplomat of the American Board of Ophthalmology, as well as a Fellow of the Royal College of Ophthalmology (U.K.).
After leaving MEEI, he spent two years on staff at Bethesda Naval Hospital prior to joining the faculty of the Department of Ophthalmology at Stanford University Medical School. He moved to Dallas on the faculty at The University of Texas, Southwestern Medical School, in 1980 and became Professor and Chairman in 1981, a position that he currently holds.
He has held positions in many different organizations including the presidency of the Castroviejo Society, secretary-treasurer of the Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology, member of several medical related boards, including the Eye Bank Association of American, Contact Lens Association of Ophthalmologists, and Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing at Johns Hopkins. He has served on both NIH and FDA Advisory Committees and chaired the FDA Ophthalmic Device Panel from 1999 to 2001 and the Vision A Study Section. He continues to serve as a consultant to the FDA. He also served on the Residency Review Committee for Ophthalmology from 1990 to 1996. He has served for many years as an associate examiner for the American Board of Ophthalmology.
He has held multiple administrative positions at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School including, Chairman of the Practice Plan Committee. He has received multiple honors over the years including the Honor and Senior Honor awards from the AAO and presented more than 140 invited lectureships and visiting professorships, received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Texas Christian University and the Distinguished Alumni Award from Harvard Medical School (formerly Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary) and been recognized as one of the "Best Ophthalmologists/Doctors" in many different publications. He has been principle investigator of an NEI/NIH grant since 1978. He has published more than 200 peer reviewed manuscripts, citable abstracts, books and book chapters.
