University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center

History

The University of Oklahoma in Norman was founded in 1890, 17 years before Oklahoma's statehood, by the Oklahoma Territorial Legislature. In 1910, OU's fledgling two-year medical school moved to Oklahoma City and became a four-year program. A school of nursing was founded nearby the next year, and graduated its first class in 1913. In subsequent years a new university hospital was built, a graduate college for biomedical sciences was established, and the Oklahoma City Veterans Administration Hospital was constructed. A school of health was created in 1967, splitting twelve years later into a college of allied and public health. In 1971, the University of Oklahoma Medical Center became the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and all schools on the HSC campus were designated as colleges. The College of Pharmacy, OU's oldest professional program, made the move from Norman to Oklahoma City five years later.

On July 1, 1993, the University Hospital system officially became independent of the State of Oklahoma Department of Health Services. In 1998, Columbia/HCA, a large hospital group based in Franklin, TN, entered into a joint agreement with the University Hospitals Authority and Trust (UHAT) to manage the hospitals. UHAT and community leaders founded the nonprofit, OU Medicine, which executed a $750 million buyout of HCA Healthcare's management agreement and ownership stake of its hospital facilities in 2018.

In 2025, OU Health Sciences researchers secured approximately $75.2 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for research, resulting in a national ranking of 102nd out of roughly 2,838 institutions that receive NIH funding and marking the highest such ranking in the institution’s history.

Institutions

Patient care institutions

• OU Medical Center
• The Children's Hospital at OU Medical Center
• Oklahoma City Veterans Administration Hospital
• Dean McGee Eye Institute
• Peggy and Charles Stephenson Oklahoma Cancer Center
• Harold Hamm Diabetes Center
• Oklahoma Blood Institute

Educational and research institutions

• University of Oklahoma
  • College of Medicine
  • College of Dentistry
  • College of Nursing
  • College of Allied Health
  • Hudson College of Public Health
  • College of Pharmacy
  • Graduate College
  • Robert M. Bird Health Sciences Library
• Children's Medical Research Institute
• Presbyterian Health Foundation
• Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation

Secondary schools

• Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics

Government institutions

• Office of the Chief Medical Examiner
• Oklahoma State Department of Health
• Oklahoma State Department of Mental Health

Notes

References

References

1. "Prospective Students Overview".
2. "OU Facts".
3. "OUHSC Map".
4. [http://digital.libraries.ou.edu/sooner/articles/p183,200_1932v4n6_OCR.pdf Medical School early history from a 1932 Sooner Magazine article]
5. [http://digital.libraries.ou.edu/sooner/articles/p8-13_1989v9n2_OCR.pdf 1989 Sooner Magazine Article]
6. [http://www.ouhsc.edu/about/ Official OUHSC History]
7. (2 February 2018). "Oklahoma University Medicine completes $750M HCA buyout {{!}} Modern Healthcare".
8. "OU Health Sciences Rises to 102 in National Ranking".
9. "College Scorecard: University of Oklahoma-Health Sciences Center". [[United States Department of Education]].
10. "OU Medical Center".
11. "The Children's Hospital".
12. "VA Oklahoma City health care".
13. "Dean McGee Eye Institute in Oklahoma".
14. "OU Cancer Institute".
15. "Healthcare Services in Oklahoma".
16. cjrw.com, CJRW-. "Donate at a Blood Center Near You".
17. "Robert Bird Library Home".
18. "site cannot be reached".
19. "Presbyterian Health Foundation {{!}} Grants {{!}} 655 Research Parkway, Suite 500 Oklahoma City, OK 73104-3603".
20. "Office of the Chief Medical Examiner".
21. "Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services".