Judith A. James, MD, PhD

As Vice President of Clinical Affairs and Chair of Arthritis and Clinical Immunology, Dr. James leads the largest research program at OMRF. She is also the Associate Vice Provost for Clinical and Translational Science and a Professor of Medicine at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. In these roles, her mission is to build a continuum connecting basic mechanistic studies, clinical research, industry collaborations, and clinical care. She also follows this model in her own research. Dr. James and her research group focus on understanding the causes and mechanisms of autoimmune disease onset, the evolution of autoantibodies, and the interplay of genes and environment in systemic autoimmunity. Judith has made seminal contributions in these areas, and she has published more than 280 manuscripts. Her achievements have been recognized with prestigious awards including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists/Engineers, ACR Dubois’ Award and the Evelyn M. Hess Award from the Lupus Foundation of America. Judith serves as the principal investigator for numerous NIH grants and as a Council member for the National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Disease. She received her medical degree and PhD in Immunology from the Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and practices medicine as a board-certified adult rheumatologist, focusing on SLE, incomplete lupus, and related diseases.