In the evening of Aug. 18, at the Scioto County Club in Columbus, the Osteopathic Heritage Foundation (OHF) gave Ohio University the first installment of two grant awards totaling $11,461,289 that the foundation announced earlier in the week. Representing OU-COM, Dean Jack Brose, D.O., and OU-COM faculty and staff members were on hand to receive the initial funding. With these grants, the OHF has approved more than $15 million in grants to the University since 1999.

The near $11.5 million are earmarked for a research facility, medical education programs and osteopathic medical research. One award, for $10 million, will cover one-third of the cost to design, construct and equip an “Integrated Research Facility” on the Athens campus. In keeping with the University’s establishment of biotechnology research and education as priorities, the 100,000-sq.-ft., state-of-the-art research facility will bring together multidisciplinary teams of researchers from OU-COM, the Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ College of Engineering, the College of Health & Human Services (CHHS) and the College of Arts & Sciences to work together to develop new methods of medical diagnosis, therapeutics and treatment paradigms.

The second award, for $1,461,289, is for OU-COM to establish a central research office for the Centers for Osteopathic Research and Education ($777,618), conduct interdisciplinary neuromuscular-skeletal research ($405,380) and establish the infrastructure for diabetes education research and physician training ($278,291).

In the Integrated Research Facility, proximity, specialized equipment, shared laboratory and meeting spaces, high-speed Internet and sophisticated computer workstations will enhance and accelerate collaborative research efforts. Within the facility, the university and its collaborative colleges will expand and enhance research and research training. The new facility will enable the university to expand the quality and quantity of interdisciplinary research at Ohio University.

The planned $30 million facility is contingent upon additional funds — coming from the university and private donors — being attained by Ohio University, including $5 million committed by the Russ College and a $5 million gift from alumnus Charles R. Stuckey Jr. and his wife, Marilyn, which launched this building project. The facility could open by the end of 2008.

“The true beneficiary of the work to be performed in the Integrated Research Facility will be members of the community-at-large who will be the recipients of enhanced diagnostics, improved and efficacious treatments and cures,” says Brose. “The facility will provide the means and opportunity for multidisciplinary teams of clinicians and scientists to work together in shared research spaces on collaborative research projects.”

“We are deeply grateful,” says Ohio University President Roderick J. McDavis, Ph.D., “to the Osteopathic Heritage Foundation for its enthusiastic commitment to osteopathic medical training at Ohio University. The Integrated Research Facility will enable osteopathic medical students to engage in cutting-edge, multidisciplinary research.”

“The strengthening and expansion of our osteopathic medical and bio-engineering programs with this new facility will substantively advance research, and research education and training capacity. It is an investment in the future of the osteopathic medical profession and the future health and well-being of the community we serve.”

“The ultimate goals of the Integrated Research Facility are,” says Richard Vincent, M.B.A., OHF president and C.E.O., “to improve health and quality of life in the community-at-large, and specifically Appalachian Ohio, by focusing research efforts on diseases endemic to the region. Additional beneficiaries include the medical, engineering and other students and their faculty mentors.”

Also the University’s recent biotechnology initiative, to which it has committed $10 million, will be housed in the planned facility. This university endeavor will fund interdisciplinary research and clinical outreach projects, purchase of major equipment and new faculty hires to advance basic research into commercial biotechnology products and better inform best practices in health care and health-care education. The initiative is part of the University’s engagement in more multi- and interdisciplinary research. OU-COM, in collaboration with the Russ College, CHHS and the College of Arts & Sciences, received approval in 2004 as one of three University Research Priority grants.

The almost $1.5 million grant funds the trio of OU-COM projects over the next five years.

One project will allow CORE research administrators and biostatisticians at a central office and four regional centers to increase students’ and physicians’ skills and interests in conducting clinical research that can lead to improved methods of diagnosing and treating patients. The staff will provide support and instruction to design studies, improve the quality of research conducted and coordinate multi-site clinical trials.

The first postgraduate research site developed will be at Doctors Hospital in Columbus. The CORE, a statewide medical education consortium, includes more than 400 medical students and 500 postgraduate physicians and 13 Ohio hospital training sites.

Another project will help provide faculty and staff for Ohio University’s Institute for Neuromusculoskeletal Research, promoting interdisciplinary research on the musculoskeletal system and its neural control.

“This research capitalizes on the traditional strengths of osteopathic musculoskeletal medicine and will encourage physicians at osteopathic medical colleges to collaborate on studies determining the efficacy of osteopathic manipulative medicine as an adjunctive and complementary treatment,” says Brose.

“The osteopathic profession has," Vincent says, "an opportunity to enhance its impact on health care as well as strengthen its leadership in manual medicine through research into neuromusculoskeletal systems.” .

The third project will enable OU-COM to develop the nation’s first diabetes fellowship for primary care physicians — a one-year program to train primary care osteopathic family practitioners, internists and pediatricians as specialists in diabetes.

“With the Centers for Disease Control predicting one in three Americans born in the year 2000 will develop diabetes and an even higher rate expected in Appalachia, it is essential that primary care physicians are prepared to manage this disease,” Vincent explains.

The fellowship also includes a two-year program with a research component to train osteopathic clinical faculty and physician researchers.

“This advanced training,” says Brose, “will improve the quality of patient care in Southeastern Ohio and add to the college’s regional and national recognition as a leader in diabetes research and care.”

“These grants would not be possible without the hard work of Christine Knisely, director of grant development, Office of Research and Grants, and Roxanne Malé-Brune, Ph.D., projects coordinator, Office of the Vice President for Research. Both spent immeasurable amounts of energy and time towards the completion of these grants,” says Brose. The duo was primarily responsible for writing the text of the Integrated Research Facility grant.

Says Knisely, the grants were “a collaborative project in which we worked closely with the Office of the Vice President for Research and Office of the Vice President for University Advancement.”

“OU-COM faculty members Joy Matthews-Lopez, Ph.D., (CORE central research office); John Howell, Ph.D., (interdisciplinary neuromuscular-skeletal research); and Frank Schwartz, M.D., and Jay Shubrook, D.O. (’96), (diabetes education research and physician training) developed each of their projects.”

“This was a truly special project for OU-COM to get this kind of support from a single foundation. This is a unique moment in our grant history.”

“This significant commitment by the foundation,” says Vincent, “is a demonstration of our support of the science of osteopathic medicine, our recognition of the value of osteopathic health care as well as our recognition of Ohio University and the College of Osteopathic Medicine. This investment is important for the State of Ohio as it will enhance the educational as well as research processes, resulting in even more highly trained and qualified osteopathic physicians who not only will care for Ohio residents, but also advance the science of osteopathic medicine and medicine in general.”

In 2000 a $1.5 million foundation gift established the J.O. Watson, D.O., Endowed Research Chair at OU-COM. That position is dedicated to diabetes and cardiovascular research.

The OHF, which has approved funding awards in excess of $68 million since 1999, supports health and quality of life issues in central Ohio through targeted initiatives. It is also the nation's pre-eminent foundation supporting osteopathic medical education and research. Additional information about the foundation is available online at www.osteopathicheritage.org.