James Marks

Education

Marks graduated from Phillips Academy in Andover Massachusetts, earned a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University and a Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School.

Career

TheBody.com has been a leader in distributing Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome information, since the earliest years after Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome became more widely known as a health crisis in 1993. Early in his career, Marks practiced real estate securities law as an associate with the New York law firm of Wien, Malkin & Bettex. That 1992 decision was the first in New York to grant mutual parental rights to a same-sex couple—whom he represented—and was the first decision of its kind in the United States to be published openly in an official law reporter, so that it could be cited as precedent.

In 1995, the peak year for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome-related deaths in the United States, he founded Body Health Resources Corporation, to publish TheBody.com, an Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and Human Immunodeficiency Virus information resource, carrying both prevention and treatment information.

TheBody.com assembles content from teaching hospitals, medical societies, and community-based organizations throughout the United States, and from clinical experts who respond to visitors in question-and-answer format. TheBody.com received the Global Information Infrastructure Award (1997) for best online community, and the Freddie Award (2000) from Time Incorporated. for best health website.

Marks sold his 100% ownership stake in Body Health Resources Corporation to The HealthCentral Network in 2008, just twelve days before the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the ensuing financial crisis. During his time at TheBody.com, Marks also invented and obtained three patents on systems and methods for conducting questions and answers with online experts, and for syndicating or “micro-blogging” them across multiple web sites.

Through his holding company for these patents, ExpertViewpoint, Limited Liability Company, they were sold in March 2012.

ExpertViewpoint continues to operate Q&A systems at no charge, for a limited number of non-profit organizations. Marks invented and obtained a fourth patent on systems and methods for online recruitment of volunteers for clinical trials, and he continues to own that patent through a separate holding company. In addition, through public speaking, he draws attention in the LGBT community to the increasing presence of LGBT parents.

He serves currently on the advisory board of Fenway Health.

In 2001, Marks celebrated his union with former commodities trader Mark Scott. They have two children.

Achievements

• Drawn however to civil rights, he volunteered as a cooperating attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union’s Gay and Lesbian Rights Project, and accomplished a series of legal victories including In re Evan. At Phillips Academy, he served for six years on the board of the Abbot Academy Association, and before that as a volunteer and co-founder of Andover’s LGBT alumni/ae organization.