48th Annual Distinguished Faculty Award

Elizabeth Joan Plogsted James                   

Professor of child health and obstetrics

Columbia, Mo.

Three decades ago, Betty James, MD ’65, developed the first neonatal intensive care unit and neonatal transport system in rural Missouri. Her efforts have saved the lives of thousands of premature infants and improved newborn care in Missouri. A professor of child health and obstetrics/gynecology in the MU School of Medicine since 1971, James has also directed the Children’s Hospital NICU at University of Missouri Health Care since it opened in 1971. She has been responsible for training neonatal fellows currently in academic and private practice of neonatology throughout the United States and internationally, as she helped establish an accredited fellowship program at MU leading to board certification by the American Board of Pediatrics, Sub-Board of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine. She has shared her knowledge and expertise in the care of newborns throughout the state by establishing an outreach education network for physicians and nurses. She has been extensively involved in state professional organizations and an advocate for her patients and their families at the state legislature. President of the board of directors for A Call to Serve (ACTS)-Missouri and board member of ACTS-International since 1996, James has traveled to the European country of Georgia to help set up a neonatal care system there. An article she wrote about her experiences, “A Decade of Humanitarian Aid and Medical Knowledge Exchange Between Missouri and European Georgia Physicians,” was published in Missouri Medicine in 2006. Her awards include being chosen by the MU Medical Alumni Association as the first recipient of the Distinguished Young Physician Award in 1982 and being named the Boone County Medical Society Doctor of the Year in 2006. A member of the Mizzou Alumni Association and a recipient of a Faculty-Alumni Award in 1992, she and her late husband, Ronald, MS ’64, MD ’65, have two children, Susan and Jason.