Our Members

Judith A. James, MD, PhD is the Lou Kerr Chair of Arthritis and Clinical Immunology, Director of the Oklahoma Autoimmunity Center of Excellence, and Vice President of Clinical Affairs at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation. She also serves as the Associate Vice Provost for Clinical and Translational Science and leads the Oklahoma Clinical and Translational Science Institute at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Dr. James’ research focuses on understanding preclinical autoimmunity, identifying mechanisms of disease transition, and characterizing lupus heterogeneity to improve clinical trial design and patient outcomes. Dr. James has characterized common humoral epitopes in SLE, demonstrated the pathogenicity of common lupus autoantibodies, provided the first description of human humoral epitope spreading, and delineated the timing of autoantibody development in SLE. Her ongoing studies leverage unique preclinical data collections to identify altered inflammatory and regulatory mechanisms that drive the transition from initial autoimmunity to early clinical manifestations to SLE classification. Dr. James, in collaboration with other Oklahoma lupus investigators, also combines clinical data, genomics, proteomics, and molecular phenotypes from a longitudinal lupus cohort to understand how molecular heterogeneity can be used to optimize clinical trials and guide clinical decision making. The long-term goal of these efforts is to provide knowledge and resources for natural history studies, prevention studies, new therapeutic development and improved outcomes in SLE.