Full Name James D. Marks Partner(s) Mark Scott Known for LGBT advocacy | Alma mater Columbia Law School Citizenship American Name James Marks | |
Education B.A. (Yale), J.D. (Columbia) | ||
James D. Marks (born 1961), known as Jamie Marks, is an investor, an inventor, an advocate for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) parents and their children, and is the former Chief Executive Officer of TheBody.com, a website he founded in 1995. TheBody.com has been a leader in distributing HIV/AIDS information, since the earliest years after AIDS became more widely known as a health crisis in 1983.
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Education
Marks graduated from Phillips Academy in Andover Massachusetts, earned a B.A. from Yale University and a J.D. from Columbia Law School.
Career
Early in his career, Marks practiced real estate securities law as an associate with the New York law firm of Wien, Malkin & Bettex. 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. 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 AIDS-related deaths in the United States, he founded Body Health Resources Corporation, to publish TheBody.com, an AIDS and HIV 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 Inc. 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, LLC, 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.
Advocacy and Volunteering
Marks was elected in 2012 to the board of directors of Family Equality Council, the organization advocating social and legal equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender parents and their children, throughout the United States. In addition, through public speaking, he draws attention in the LGBT community to the increasing presence of LGBT parents.
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. He serves currently on the advisory board of Fenway Health.
Personal
In 2001, Marks celebrated his union with former commodities trader Mark Scott. They have two children.