The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

Thank You Mr. Kaiser
A four year school and a 6 yr fast track...

"OU-Tulsa gets $50 million gift


By KIM ARCHER World Staff Writer
2/12/2008
Last Modified: 2/12/2008  12:55 AM

The Kaiser family donation for community medicine aims at better health care for the underserved.


Tulsa will be the home of the nation's first School of Community Medicine, aimed at improving the dire health status of underserved Oklahomans by producing doctors dedicated to that purpose.

The George Kaiser Family Foundation has donated $50 million to the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa for the school, the largest cash donation ever made to OU, said Dr. Gerry Clancy, OU-Tulsa president.

"This is a declaration of our ex plicit commitment to the health of our community," he said.

The College of Medicine at OU-Tulsa will formally be renamed the OU School of Community Medicine, which will "guide medical students into areas of care which impact lower-income families and others who have limited access to quality medical care," OU President David Boren said in a press release.

"It will not concentrate on basic scientific research but on clinical outreach to those who desperately need care," he said.

Of the $50 million donation, $35 million will be used to endow -- and perpetually fund -- 35 faculty chairs in
the OU School of Community Medicine, bringing the number of full-time faculty members to 221, Clancy said.

By law, the state is expected to match that $35 million, bringing the endowment funding to $70 million and the total economic impact for northeastern Oklahoma to $85 million.

The school also will create 1,600 new jobs for the region, Clancy said. The new educational track will start this fall with a goal of enrolling 70 students per class by the fall of 2011, he said. When fully implemented, the OU School of Community Medicine will have an overall enrollment of 280, which includes 140 third- and fourth-year medical students at OU-Tulsa. There also will be 50 physi cian assistant students and 251 resident and fellow physicians.

The OU College of Medicine in Tulsa has 80 third- and fourth-year medical students, 201 residents and 186 faculty members.

Of the remaining money, $7.5 million will be used to recruit faculty and develop infrastructure, Clancy said.

"This is a major expansion. There will be more students and a change in size of services," Clancy said. "Most importantly, there will be a change in the pipeline from recruit to practicing physician."

An undergraduate fast-track program will be developed to allow a student to complete college and medical school in less than eight years, he said.

"This gift also will allow us to expand our residency programs to include internal medicine, surgery and pediatric fellowships that match with public health needs in cancer, cardiology, diabetes, child psychiatry and preventive medicine," Clancy said.

While OU-Tulsa's College of Medicine is known for its public health work, this change will further solidify the school's mission, he said.

Students will be selected for both academics and dedication to serving at-risk and underserved populations.

"We will have a central theme of community engagement, and we will actively seek out students from across the country who plan to stay in Oklahoma to practice community medicine," Clancy said.

Instead of starting off with anatomy classes, students at OU School of Community Medicine will begin their edu cations learning about the needs of low-income and at-risk residents, he said.

"We want to feed off their altruism rather than put a fire hose on it," Clancy said.

Medical students' choice of specialty often is influenced by the massive debt they have acquired while in school, Clancy said.

So the school will funnel $7.5 million of the funds into scholarships and a loan forgiveness program for students enrolled in the OU School of Community Medicine who provide medical care to underserved rural and urban areas after graduation, he said.

"We want students to be able to choose a specialty, not driven by their loan burden, but driven by their heart," Clancy said."

This is terrific news for all of us.  Thanks Mr. Kaiser!

At the risk of having to duck bullets... this is far more beneficial to Tulsa than the proposed Kaiser River gift.

No doubt about that....

this exactly the kind of growth we need...

This is good news. I would rather the larger sum of any of his donations go to OU and OSU Tulsa than the river as well. River stuff is certainly nice, but having a larger number of young educated people, "and healthy people", is better. They will by their demographics draw businesses to the area to build things to satisfy what they want. Businesses follow the demographics. Having great river amenities would help, but dollar for dollar, great colleges would be a better investment at this time in Tulsas developmental stage.

Very good news, and hardly a surprise considering Ken Levit used to run OU Tulsa and now leads the Kaiser Foundation.  It's more the amount of the donation at one time which surprised me.

Thank you for this generous gift.  It's things like this which can put a city on the map in medical research, training, and development.  It also increases the liveability factor of the city.

Now about that river thingy.... [;)]

I'm surprised this hasn't been discussed as it will create a new 4 year medical school beginning (hopefully) in 2014.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=17&articleid=20091202_17_A1_Univer322000 (http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=17&articleid=20091202_17_A1_Univer322000)

Some excerpts from the TW article:

"We will aim toward a first class of 70 to 75 first-year students by 2014," he said.

The medical school would be a joint effort of one of the nation's top 50 private universities and one of its top 50 public universities, Boren said. "I like to think of it as a merger of excellence," he said.

The latest collaboration between TU and OU is the physician assistant program launched two years ago through the OU School of Community Medicine. Physician assistants are authorized to practice under the supervision of licensed physicians, and it is one of the fastest-growing fields in the country.

At the time, the George Kaiser Family Foundation donated $50 million to create the country's first School of Community Medicine, aimed at improving the health of the underserved by producing doctors dedicated to that purpose.

The new medical school will be an expansion on that theme.

"This will be a medical school with a stronger attention to the needs of the underserved," Clancy said.

Initially, TU likely will deliver the first two years of science and biology courses and the latter two years of clinically oriented courses will be delivered by OU, he said.

The hope is to eventually have a free-standing school campus, Clancy said.

I wonder where the free-standing campus will be?  Hopefully part of an existing medical campus like Hillcrest which is close to TU and downtown.

Everyone is still hung up on the SOTU from last night  ;)

Very good news, interesting to see colleges come together for a common goal like this.  Nothing but good news and a perfect example of how seeds which are planted by citizens who give back can multiply.

At the risk of skirting the edge a political issue here, this is a very good example of what happens when people are allowed to lead instead of the government.  Partnerships like this and donors like the Kaiser Family Foundation can do a whole lot more for the good of healthcare than the government ever will.  I love this initiative.

Since moving here Ive been so impressed by how much the Kaiser family does for our city.

Even though this is still a few years away from happening I think it will have a huge impact on the city.  I'd like to see Tulsa Regional/OSU Med Center become University Hospital and be the primary teaching hospital for not only OSU's osteopathic program (like it is now) but also for the OU/TU MD school.  Hopefully then that campus will receive a much-need facelift and expansion which benefits downtown.  There will also be a need for more downtown housing for students.