OKLAHOMA - Dr. Paul Wayne Kincade died October 5, 2025, less than a week short of his 81st birthday.
A world-renowned immunologist, Paul spent more than three decades at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF). His passing marked the end of a long and remarkable life and scientific career, one that began in Moorhead.
Following graduation from Mississippi Delta Community College (which later named him its Alumnus of the Year), Paul obtained bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Mississippi State University. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and, after a pair of postdoctoral fellowships, joined the faculty of the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research.
Paul studied the development of the immune system which he had an overwhelming desire to understand the defects in this process that lead to cancers, immune deficiency diseases, and autoimmune disorders. He held the William H. and Rita Bell Chair in Biomedical Research and founded OMRF’s Immunobiology and Cancer Research Program, which he led for more than two decades. His work garnered numerous honors, including a Research Career Development Award from the NIH and an NIH M.E.R.I.T. Award.
He was passionate about advocating for medical research, and over his career he did so in leadership roles in national scientific societies. He served as president of both the American Association of Immunologists (AAI) and the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), the nation’s largest association of biological scientists. He also served as founding scientific director of the Oklahoma Center for Adult Stem Cell Research (OCASCR), which he helped launch in 2010.
Paul is preceded in death by his parents, Nell Bradley and Tyrus Cobb Kincade. He is survived by his wife, Melanie, his daughter, Dr. Kathleen Kincade (Keith), his brother Dr. Robert Kincade and his nieces Dr. Tessa Kincade (Vic), Jill Yuhas (Allen) and Allison Kincade.
