OOF Contributes to Research Facility, Anatomy Lab, Radio Series

During 2006, the Ohio Osteopathic Foundation (OOF) Board of Trustees voted to support several osteopathic efforts with financial contributions. Among them:

* Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine - $200,000 over a five-year period to name two medical research suites in the proposed Ohio University Integrated Learning & Research Facility.
* Firelands Regional Medical Center - $23,700 from funds originally donated to the OOF in the 1980s by the Sandusky Memorial Hospital Guild, to establish the OOF/Sandusky Memorial Hospital Anatomy Lab to train OU-COM students and allied health professionals.
* Family Health Radio Series - $10,000 in matching funds to help keep the program on the air.
* Health Policy Fellowship Grant - $5,000 to OOA Member Roy W. Harris, DO, of Bucyrus, to support participation in the AOA Health Policy Fellowship program. Grant recipients agree to participate on the OOA Health Policy Committee for five years and provide consultation and possible testimony on issues of importance to the profession.
* Student Loan - $4,000 emergency loan to a 2006 OU-COM student in order for her to graduate.

The $200,000 grant will fund two of the Research facility's 12 state-of-the-art medical research laboratories. One will be named in honor of the members of the OOA; the other will be named for Warren General Hospital.

"With this new state-of-the-art facility, medical students, engineers and scientists will be able to easily collaborate on research, going from lab bench to patient bedside," said OOF Chair Victor D. Angel, DO. "That research will affect clinical practice and, ultimately, improve health care through the development of new diagnostics and treatments."

Angel noted OOA members have a long history of supporting medical education and research efforts. Since the founding of the college, the OOF has contributed more than $1 million to its development.

"I would like to thank the Ohio osteopathic profession for its support of medical education at Ohio University," said OU-COM Dean Jack Brose, DO. "We are very grateful to the profession for its unwavering long-term and generous support of medical research and education in the state, which benefits not only Ohio but the nation as well. The members of the Ohio osteopathic profession are our most valued partners and collaborators."

Funding cuts jeopardized the status of the Family Health Radio Series, a 2-1/2 minute, daily radio program heard on more than 300 radio stations. With the OOF gift, FH producers were able to match a $20,000 grant from the Ohio University President's Fund, thus enabling the program to remain on the air providing practical, easy-to-understand, health information.