Born in Leeds, England, Dr. James Shapiro obtained his medical degree at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and trained in surgery at the University of Bristol. In 1993, He came to the University of Alberta in Canada to train in liver transplantation and hepatobiliary surgery, continuing research studies in experimental islet transplantation begun as a medical student.

He earned a Ph.D. studying new drug combinations for possible testing in islet transplantation. Dr. Shapiro studied liver surgery in Vancouver, in living donor liver transplant surgery in Japan, and in whole pancreas transplant surgery at the University of Maryland. In 1998, he returned to the University of Alberta as a multi-organ transplant surgeon.

Dr. Shapiro was asked to lead the Clinical Islet Transplant Program team in Edmonton. Together with doctors Lakey, Ryan, Rajotte, Kneteman and Korbutt, he developed and tested a new protocol that used a steroid-free anti-rejection regimen coupled with sufficient numbers of transplanted islets. This research has since become known as the Edmonton Protocol. In 1999, Dr. Shapiro initiated the pancreas transplant program at the University of Alberta and in the same year performed the first emergency living-related donor liver transplant in Canada.

Dr. Shapiro is principal investigator of the international multi-center trial of islet transplantation testing the Edmonton Protocol at nine international sites, sponsored by the Immune Tolerance Network. He is also director of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) Clinical Center for Islet Transplantation at the University of Alberta.

Dr. Shapiro maintains an active immunology and transplant research laboratory focused on aspects of tolerance induction relating to islet transplantation with emphasis on costimulatory blockade and chimerism, with translational potential to clinical islet recipients.