Dr. Ogra’s career in medicine began in the early 1960’s. His academic leadership has focused on research, teaching and patient care in childhood infections, mucosal vaccine development, and definition of biologic markers of immunity against human infections. His major scientific contributions began with the first functional characterization of secretory IgA and “alimentary” mucosal immunity in natural or vaccine induced infection with poliovirus. In subsequent investigations, he defined the role of secretory IgA and cellular mucosal immune responses to such human infections as rubella, mumps, hepatitis B virus and enteroviruses. His laboratory provided extensive immunologic characterization of human milk, its role in maternal-neonatal interactions and childhood infections, and the association of mammary glands with other components of the common mucosal immune system. Other investigations from his laboratory identified important components of host-pathogen interactions underlying the pathogenesis of mucosal infections, notably in Bronchiolitis due to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), gastroenteritis due to rotavirus, and immunologic aspects of Otitis media in childhood. These include, demonstration of RSV specific IgE in the respiratory mucosa and its role in viral induced reactive airway disease, identification of rotavirus- specific receptor-binding sites in villous enterocytes in early infancy and the role of Bifidobacteria in modulating rotavirus-mucosal cell interactions, and development of IgA and other aspects of mucosal immune responses in the middle ear mucosa during otitis media.

Dr. Ogra served as the chief of Pediatric infectious diseases and Professor of Pediatrics and Microbiology at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York until 1990, when he was appointed as the John Sealy Distinguished Chair Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), Pediatrician-in-Chief at the UTMB Children’s Hospital, and as Professor of Microbiology and Immunology.. He retired from this position in 2002. Since that time, he has returned to the Children’s Hospital of Buffalo and is currently serving as Professor Emeritus, Department of Pediatrics at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Dr. Ogra has been a member of over 30 prestigious national and international scientific societies, These include election as a, elected Member Association of American Physicians, American Society for Clinical Investigation, American Pediatric Society; Elected Fellow Royal Society (Medicine) UK . Infectious Diseases Society of America, American Academy of Microbiology. He has received multiple honors and awards, and has served as an honored guest and commencement speaker at medical school graduation events. He has served on many study sections, and national and international advisory panels of World Health Organization, National Institutes of Health (US) Institute of Medicine:, US National academy of Sciences, Federal Drug Administration ,International Vaccine Institute, Seoul, S. Korea, European Union ,Mucosal Vaccine Development Program (MUVAPRED).

To date, Dr. Ogra has contributed over 440 peer reviewed original scientific publications and review articles. He has edited, in collaborations with many of his colleagues, 19 full-length books and monographs, has served as the founding editor of the first comprehensive textbook of Mucosal Immunology.

During his investigative career, Dr. Ogra has served as the mentor of over 75 post-doctoral fellows and PhD students in Microbiology and Immunology and training of over 500 Pediatric residents.
Dr. Ogra was born in Kashmir, India. He obtained his Medical degree from the Christian Medical College, Ludhiana, India., and residency and post-doctoral training in Pediatrics, Infectious Diseases, Clinical Virology and Immunology at the University of Chicago, New York University-Bellevue Medical Center, and at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York respectively. He continues to remain very active as a consultant and a teacher in the diverse areas of vaccine research and development and in the global issues of childhood infectious diseases. He devotes significant amount of his effort in the field in South Asia, towards the control of vaccine preventable diseases of the poor.