Dr. James Farmer completed his medical degree at the University of Ottawa in 1979, followed by multiple residencies in Internal Medicine (1980), Ophthalmology (1983), and Anatomic Pathology (1990) at the University of Ottawa, as well as in Pathology at the University of Vermont (1987). He further specialized with a fellowship in Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus at the Smith-Kettlewell Institute of Visual Science and the University of California. 

Dr. Farmer is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Ophthalmology and holds a cross-appointment as Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular and Laboratory Medicine at Queen’s University. He also serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Ottawa.

He is the current President of the Canadian Ophthalmic Pathology Society and Ocular Pathology Section Editor of the Canadian Journal of Ophthalmology.