James (Jim) M. Lewis, DMD, D-ABFO is a native of north Alabama and earned his dental degree from the University of Alabama Birmingham School of Dentistry in 1985. He maintained a general dentistry practice in Madison, Alabama from 1986 – 2017; and currently is a forensic dental educator and consultant. Dr. Lewis completed the Fellowship in Forensic Odontology from the Center for Education and Research in Forensics, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio in 2001. As a forensic dentist, he assisted in victim identification in New York following the World Trade Center attack; and since 2003, has served as consultant to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences (ADFS) and volunteer to the Alabama Office of Emergency Preparedness in relation to its mass disaster response group. In 2017, he became a dental consultant to the Knox County Regional Forensic Center in Tennessee and the Director of Forensic Dentistry in the Division of Forensics at the University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine, Knoxville where he administrated a Fellowship and Master of Science programs in Forensic Dentistry.
Currently, Dr. Lewis is an associate professor and Director of Forensic Dentistry at the Institute of Human Identification & Forensic Science located at the Lincoln Memorial University, College of Dental Medicine in Knoxville; and serves as the forensic dental consultant to the National Forensic Academy in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Dr. Lewis is a Fellow of the Odontology Section of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS); Member of the American Society of forensic Odontology (ASFO) where he served as President in 2012; and Board Certified by the American Board of Forensic Odontology (ABFO). As a Diplomate of the ABFO, he has served as Chair of the Dental Age Assessment Committee; member of the Bitemark & Patterned Injury Committee, Board of Directors, and Certification & Examination Committee; and, in 2020 served as ABFO President. He recently completed a six-year appoint to the Odontology Subcommittee of the Organization of Scientific Area Committees for Forensic Science (OSAC), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
Dr. Lewis has authored several forensic peer reviewed articles, textbook chapters, and co-edited the textbook, Forensic Dentistry: Principles and Practice.