James Phillip Luby

James Phillip Luby was born May 30, 1935, in Chicago, the youngest of three sons of William W. Luby and Margaret M. Luby. In 1968, he married the love of his life, Lynne Mordaunt, a former research associate at UT Southwestern who went on to earn her MBA from SMU and became a financial planner.

Dr. Luby was one of the longest-serving faculty members in the Department of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern. After earning both his bachelor’s degree with highest distinction and his medical degree with distinction from Northwestern University, he completed residency training at Northwestern and Parkland Memorial Hospital, including a year as Chief Resident, followed by a fellowship in infectious diseases at UT Southwestern. He subsequently served as an officer in the Epidemic Intelligence Service of the U.S. Public Health Service at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta where his work included investigating outbreaks of St. Louis encephalitis and participating in a joint U.S.-India evaluation of malaria eradication efforts. He returned to UT Southwestern as a faculty member in 1967.

Dr. Luby became a foundational figure in shaping the Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine at UT Southwestern over his more than five decades there. He served as Division Chief from 1975 to 1997 and led the viral diagnostics laboratory at Parkland Memorial Hospital from 1970 to 1987. During those years, he helped build and strengthen a program recognized for its excellence in the diagnosis, treatment, and study of infectious diseases. In 2013, he was awarded the highest honor by the DCMS, the Max Cole Leadership Award, for his public health role in the West Nile virus epidemic in Dallas in 2012. Dr. Luby published over 80 peer-reviewed original research articles and over 40 book chapters, reviews or editorials. He has over 4600 citations of his work, representing the breadth of his scientific contributions.

He was widely regarded as an accomplished clinician and dedicated educator who delighted in teaching and mentoring generations of medical students, residents, fellows, and researchers, including through the Academic Colleges program. He was recognized with multiple teaching honors throughout his distinguished career, and his impact was further acknowledged through the establishment of the James P. Luby, M.D. Professorship in Infectious Diseases, as well as an Internal Medicine teaching service bearing his name at William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital.

Dr. Luby’s dedication to others and his enduring influence will live through his beloved wife, Lynne, his nieces and grand nieces, colleagues, students, patients, friends and everyone who knew him.

To honor Dr. Luby’s remarkable life in perpetuity, a memorial fund has been created at UT Southwestern Medical Center with the intent of supporting the establishment of a permanent endowment in the spirit of his legacy. Contributions may be directed to UT Southwestern, P.O. Box 910888, Dallas, TX 75391-0888 or online at give.utsouthwestern.edu/impact. If giving online, under Gift Purpose, select designation of “Other” then type in “Dr. James Luby’s memory".