J. Donald Capra

J. (Joseph) Donald Capra (1937 – February 24, 2015) was an American immunologist, physician-scientist, and the fourth full-time president (1997–2007) and later, president emeritus, of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF) in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. While president, he helped to raise over $100 million and spearheaded major research growth in grants funded and faculty recruited to the institution.

Prior to becoming the president of OMRF in 1997, Capra served as professor of microbiology and internal medicine and was named the Edwin L. Cox Distinguished Chair in Immunology and Genetics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, from 1974 to 1997, also serving as the director of the UTSW Molecular Immunology Center from 1990 to 1997. Before moving to UT Southwestern, he was a faculty member of the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York City between 1969 and 1974.

Capra is widely known for his studies of monoclonal antibodies. His contributions to immunology have focused on the molecular features of antibody variable regions, including key discoveries related to the antibody combining site and its relationship to antibody idiotypy and the hypervariable regions of antibody molecules. He particularly studied the antibody combining sites and mutational genetics as they apply to both diseased and healthy states. Capra was an early leader in using human monoclonal antibodies from patients with lymphocytic malignancies helping to drive the field towards biopharmaceutical therapeutics, which now represents one of the largest segments of the pharmaceutical, diagnostic and research-based industries. He was also involved in the development of mouse monoclonal antibodies directed against human tissues that are widely used as diagnostic reagents. He was among those who defined the subsets of human B lymphocytes. These studies led to a redefinition of many human B cell malignancies, which became important in the treatment of many Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphomas.

Capra authored more than 320 peer-reviewed scientific articles. He co-authored/edited two books: The Antibody Enigma (1984) and Immunobiology 4th Edition (1999), co-edited seven volumes on The Antibodies with Maurizio Zanetti (1995–2002), and served on the review and editorial boards of many journals. He also served on the board of directors for Innexus Biotechnology Inc. in Scottsdale, Arizona.,

Capra has also been associated and/or trained many of today's immunologists, including Mike Carroll Ph.D., professor of pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Jeff Hanke, executive VP of inflammation/immunology Boehringer Ingelheim, Inaki Sanz, M.D., professor of medicine, chief, Division of Rheumatology, Emory University and Virginia Pascual, M.D., Baylor Institute of Biomedical Studies.

He died on February 24, 2015, following long-term illness.

Memberships Capra is a member of many scientific and professional organizations, including Sigma Xi, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Rheumatism Association, American Association of Biological Chemists, American Society for Clinical Investigation, Association of American Physicians, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Honorary Member of the Societe Francaise d' Immunologie, and elected to the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. and served as a council member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation.

Publications Partial List: