Feature: THE GIFT

With the biggest single gift in Ohio higher education history, transformation is underway at the college. We’re addressing some of society’s most pressing health care issues and becoming a national leader in training primary care physicians.

It was a historic day in April 2011, when the Osteopathic Heritage Foundations announced its $105 million gift to the college. The gift is the single largest ever given to an institution of higher education in Ohio. That year it was one of the five largest gifts ever given to a medical school, and it was among the top 50 gifts ever given to a higher education institution in the United States.

It was big for the Osteopathic Heritage Foundations, as well. “We have never considered a grant or an award of this magnitude,” President and CEO Richard Vincent said. “Nor have we considered an award which has the potential impact that this one will have.”

The gift was meant to start transformational changes at the medical school, now in its third decade. “It is a pivotal time for thinking differently about how primary care physicians are trained and how health care is delivered,” said Mr. Vincent. “The college took a hard, considered look at the bold changes that would be necessary in its programs to address these issues.”

The changes are happening quickly. In the year and a half since the announcement…

…we grew from one campus to three when we announced the development of new extension campuses in central Ohio and in northeastern Ohio

… we enhanced our partnerships with two longtime training partners, OhioHealth and Cleveland Clinic, two of the largest health care systems in the state, to train more primary care physicians, especially those who will stay in those regions to practice

…we’ve hired exceptional new faculty and staff members who are at work building new advanced degree programs to develop our physician-researchers of tomorrow, laying the groundwork for new ways of teaching and learning through technology, developing new undergraduate and graduate medical curricula focusing on patient-centered care and rural and underserved populations

…we’ve given new scholarships to a number of Class of 2012 graduates who are choosing to pursue careers in primary care in Ohio, which will help relieve their medical school debt

… we’ve started expanding successful medical research programs, building upon research strengths that address the kinds of conditions that send so many patients to see their primary care physicians, diabetes and neuromusculoskeletal disorders

…and of course, we became the Ohio University Heritage College of
Osteopathic Medicine.

All of this started in 2010 with a strategic planning process. We challenged ourselves to answer hard questions, and we encouraged bold, transformative thinking. What should the college look like in the future, and would we still emphasize primary care, given the challenges of fewer medical students choosing generalist careers? How does medical education need to change to best prepare graduates to practice in today’s health care settings and address some of the most pressing health care issues we face? What would it take to advance research that results in improved health care, especially for vulnerable populations? How do we break down silos and better connect biomedical education, research and clinical care most effectively? What would it take to develop the college to a new national prominence?

We invited more than 300 people including faculty, students, staff, alumni, friends, partners and stakeholders into this planning process. We heard: It’s time to build on your strengths. It’s time to embrace primary care training in a new way and establish the college as a national model for primary care education and service. It’s time to become a leading osteopathic research institution. And there were many, many ideas about how to do this.

Our resulting strategic plan, called Vision 2020: Leading the Transformation of Primary Care in Ohio, outlined the initiatives that are now serving as a guide for growth over the next ten years. The Osteopathic Heritage Foundations worked closely with us to develop this new direction, which  also clearly aligned with its own mission of supporting local health initiatives and enhancements to osteopathic medical education and research.

Today Jack Brose, D.O., the powerhouse behind these efforts, has stepped  down as dean and taken on a new role at Ohio University as Vice Provost of Health Affairs, a new position meant to elevate the prominence of medicine and health sciences at Ohio University. And we have a new dean, Kenneth Johnson, D.O., who has the vision, energy and expertise to lead the college through the hard work ahead, because the transformation is only just beginning.

Look at the college today and you will see Osteopathic Heritage Foundations’ gift at work in every department and office. Our faculty and staff are building the initiatives funded by the gift and will be fully implemented over the next 15 years. In the pages ahead you’ll read about these efforts, which include

·         Reengineering primary care medical education with a through-going curriculum in patient-centered medical care and a special focus on rural and urban underserved populations

·         Building a new facility in Athens to elevate research in our Ohio Musculoskeletal and Neurological Institute

·         Building a diabetes clinical research and care center in Athens, focused on patient-care and the world-class research of our faculty members

·         Providing more student scholarships and working with our partner hospitals to offer debt relief as incentives for graduates to train – and eventually practice – in Ohio

·         Recruiting exceptional new researchers and research teams to compliment our diabetes, endocrine and neuromusculoskeletal efforts in basic and translational research

·         Providing additional free and reduced cost community health programs in and around Athens and the central Ohio campus

·         Developing a community-based research consortium composed of osteopathic schools in Appalachian regions

·         Recruiting new classes of students who will attend one of three of our campuses

You’ll also read about the additional resources that will be necessary to truly make OU-HCOM’s future possible. $105 million is a gift beyond exception, and this too is just the beginning. One of the most important returns on their visionary investment is the way it sets the stage for greater collaborations among many different partners. Our partners will be the essential ingredient to our success, whether it is direct financial support or partnerships that provide economies of scale to undertake mutual projects, our partners will help us leverage the Osteopathic Heritage Foundations’ generous start-up funds and ensure that we can take our initiatives to full fruition.

Visit http://www.oucom.ohiou.edu/ohf for more about the gift.