completed house posts and early training with both George Ernest Beaumont at the Brompton Chest Hospital and the Middlesex Hospital and with Professor John Scadding at the Brompton Hospital and the Hammersmith Hospital, where he first became interested in Sheila Sherlock, who he later married, and sarcoidosis, a condition that was a specialism of Scadding. In 1950, James took Sheila with him to New York, to work at the New York Presbyterian Hospital, where he researched viral pneumonia for which his thesis on the topic later gained him an MD. In New York, he was influenced by Louis Siltzbach's large sarcoidosis clinic and his diagnostic tool, the kveim test, which James later renamed the Kveim-Siltzbach test. James returned to the Middlesex Hospital in 1951 with a large supply of kveim antigen given to him by Siltzbach. Initially he configured a classification of sarcoidosis and according to the type, made suggestions for treatments. This was followed by further research into the immunology of the disease. In 1956, the Middlesex awarded him a Leverhulme research scholarship for his efforts. In 1958, he organised the first international conference on sarcoidosis at the Brompton Hospital, at which 28 delegates, representing eight countries attended. The meeting lasted for three days and was the first international conference on sarcoidosis. He was later involved in setting up the World Association of Sarcoidosis and other Granulomatous Disorders (WASOG) in 1987, in Milan, Italy and became its first president. Subsequently, with the personal financial support of Gianfranco Rizzato, the journal Sarcoidosis, later renamed Sarcoidosis Vasculitis and Diffuse Lung Diseases, became the association's official publication. James became the journal's editor-in-chief and in 1987, the journal published a festschrift in his honour. In 1959, James was appointed consultant physician at London's Royal Northern Hospital and shortly after, began a specialist sarcoidosis clinic, which attracted rheumatologists from around the world. The clinics provided an abundance of people with the disease with referrals from around the country and carried out a number of clinical trials. His registrar at the time, Alimuddin Zumla, later described James as "an excellent teacher...if you listened to his lectures you would never forget them. He had a way of imparting knowledge that was special". James also encouraged a multidisciplinary approach in order to better understand the disease and according to Zumla, was intrigued by the mystery that surrounded sarcoidosis, a rare long-term disease with an unknown cause. "Gerry