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.
- 30 -
News for
the week of Aug 22 –
Aug 27
