The Osteopathic Heritage Foundation announced Jan. 16 that it was giving Ohio University’s Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine a $70 million gift to expand scholarships and fund future research.
The gift includes $45 million for research and $25 million for scholarships upon raising $25 million in matching funds, making the Foundation one of the largest donors to an osteopathic medical school in the nation, according to an OHIO news release.
HCOM has had a relationship with the Foundation for decades. Terri Donlin Huesman, president and CEO of the Foundation, said both have committed to improving health in Ohio by producing high-quality, compassionate osteopathic physicians.
“This latest commitment has two primary goals: to substantially increase scholarships for medical students and to strengthen the Heritage College’s research enterprise with a focus on discovery that leads to life-changing impact,” Donlin wrote in a press release.
According to the Appalachian Research Commission, the supply of primary care physicians per 100,000 people in Appalachian Ohio is 25% lower than the national average and 30% lower than the average for the rest of Ohio.
“Health disparities in Southeastern Ohio are significant, which is why it is important to cultivate the next generation of scientists at Ohio University and the Heritage College that are focused on pressing health issues impacting the region,” Donlin wrote in an email.
Ken Johnson, the executive dean of the Heritage College and OU’s chief medical affairs officer, said the recent gift builds on the Foundation’s first gift of $105 million in 2011.
Johnson said the 2011 gift transformed HCOM and primary care in Ohio as the college doubled its enrollment, opened two new medical campuses and trained thousands of primary care physicians.
The 2011 gift also inspired HCOM’s “Vision 2020” plan, including strategies to increase the number and quality of primary care physicians in Ohio and to advance clinical research, care, access and training.
Now, the $70 million gift is launching HCOM’s “Vision 2035,” a new 10-year plan where the college will focus on minimizing debt for medical students and expanding translational research.
The gift will also be used to establish a new research institute focused on aging, additional endowed faculty positions and the implementation of a Data Science Core.
Johnson said the new institutes will bring more nationally-recognized researchers and major grant funding.
Ila Lahooti, a third-year student studying osteopathic medicine at the OU Dublin campus, received an Osteopathic Heritage Foundation scholarship called the Abigail and George Faerber Scholarship for about $7,000.
“Sometimes you have a lot of hard days with school, and you get discouraged, and you start to question yourself if you're good enough to be where you are,” Lahooti said. “To just know that somebody else is willing to invest in you and believes in you, it was a really good confidence boost in that moment.”
Lahooti was one of the 100 more students who received a scholarship from the doubled Osteopathic Heritage Foundation Primary Care Scholarship Endowment. The scholarships are given to students studying primary care with high financial need.
“It has just allowed me to focus on why I am in school, which is for my education and training, without that constant worry of finances in the background,” Lahooti said. “Just because we're in school doesn't take away the fact that we're human and we still have bills to pay and lives to live.”
According to an OU news release, 90% of the HCOM’s students are from Ohio, and many return to Ohio communities to serve in healthcare.
“In the near term, in both areas of support research and student scholarship, the Foundation looks forward to learning about the discoveries to be realized in the labs and engaging with the students benefiting from scholarship,” Donlin wrote in an email. “Over time, the ultimate objective is to improve the health of Ohioans.”
