Spotlight On: Judith James, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. James was the 1988 Sir Alexander Fleming Scholar. Named for the British scientist who discovered penicillin, the Fleming Scholar Program encourages “hands on” biomedical research experience to students. James worked with Dr. John Harley, a board-certified allergist/immunologist and rheumatologist, and himself a renowned lupus researcher, throughout her undergraduate and medical training. She was intrigued by the concept of autoimmunity and enjoyed working with patients, some of whom were her own age. By 1994, James’ had earned both her Ph.D. and M.D. from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and won the Outstanding Student Award from the American College of Rheumatology. After graduation, Dr. James took a position at OMRF and never left. She has won numerous awards for her work including the 2000 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers and the 2000 Merck Young Investigator Award. Dr. James’ current work in lupus has focused on “testing treatments that hopefully will delay or even prevent disease onset in at-risk patients.” By conducting research with the Department of Defense, she discovered that anti-malarial drugs (e.g., hydroxychloroquine or Plaquenil) could slow the accrual of new autoantibodies and progression to clinical lupus, laying the foundation for prevention trials in lupus and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) which are ongoing at OMRF. Dr. James also led efforts which led to OMRF receiving a $7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to further this and other lupus research, including the development of a massive bio-repository to store clinical samples. As a result of this effort, OMRF has received 15 years of competitive funding as a National Institutes of Health Autoimmunity Center of Excellence, one of only 10 nationwide. Other Centers of Excellence include Harvard, Columbia, and Emory.

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