| Updated: 6/21/2012 2:47 pm |
Published: 6/21/2012 2:46 pm
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University of Tulsa President Steadman Upham and University of Oklahoma President David Boren announced a $30 million gift from The Oxley Foundation for the proposed Tulsa School of Community Medicine.
This joint four-year community medical education program is being created to help address Oklahoma’s low health status, low health systems performance and physician shortage. The Oxley Foundation will initially provide a $15 million dollar grant to provide start-up funding for personnel and operating expenses for the planned Tulsa School of Community Medicine.
The Oxley Foundation has pledged an additional $15 million grant as a dollar-for-dollar challenge for contributions from others to the future Tulsa School of Community Medicine endowment. The match portion of The Oxley Foundation gift will be given to support the Tulsa School of Community Medicine on or before December 31, 2016.
“This is the largest commitment we have ever undertaken,” said R.H. Harbaugh, trustee of The Oxley Foundation. “The future Tulsa School of Community Medicine, and the partnership from which it was born, will make our community healthier, stronger, and a more attractive place for medical professionals to learn and live. This is a historic day for all Tulsans, and we are so pleased to be a part of it.”
TU has an established core of science education and research programs, and OU has an established medical training program in Tulsa focusing on residency training and the third and fourth years of clinical medical student education. The proposed new Tulsa School of Community Medicine has been in the planning stages since 2009 and will allow medical students to complete all four years in Tulsa.
TU purchased the Hartford Building at 111 S. Greenwood Ave. earlier this year. It is the planned home for the Tulsa School of Community Medicine and will house faculty from both universities. The first class of students in the future Tulsa School of Community Medicine is expected to start in the fall of 2015.
