Tandy Foundation pledges $8 million to name new OSU-CHS medical academic building
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
TULSA – The A.R. and Marylouise Tandy Foundation is helping transform medical education through an $8 million donation to support the construction of a new medical academic building at Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences. The announcement was made at a special ceremony this morning at the academic health center campus in Tulsa.
In recognition of the contribution, OSU is naming the new 84,000-square-foot facility the A.R. and Marylouise Tandy Medical Academic Building. The new four-story building will be constructed on the northwest corner of the campus, located at 1111 W. 17th St., off Southwest Boulevard.
“The Tandy Foundation’s transformative gift will be instrumental in funding construction of this new facility that will significantly impact medical training for our students and state,” said OSU President Burns Hargis. “We greatly appreciate the Tandy Foundation’s support in helping us fulfill our land grant mission to train physicians to serve rural and underserved Oklahoma.”
The A.R. and Marylouise Tandy Medical Academic Building will include a hospital simulation center with an emergency room, operating room, intensive care unit, birthing suite and ambulance bay that will enable students to simulate procedures and practice skills commonly utilized in hospitals across the country.
“We are excited to support Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences in its efforts to train physicians who want to live and work in Oklahoma,” said Tandy Foundation Representative Paul Giehm. “OSU has taken a lead role addressing the severe physician shortage that is impacting health care in our state.”
More than half of OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine graduates establish practices in rural or underserved areas of Oklahoma and 85 percent of OSU-COM students are from Oklahoma.
The Tandy Medical Academic Building will facilitate training, educational programs and camps for thousands of medical residents, nurses, emergency services personnel and other health care professionals from across the state, as well as students from public, private and charter schools.
“This generous contribution from the Tandy Foundation will greatly enhance the instruction we offer our medical students,” said OSU Center for Health Sciences President Kayse Shrum. “The state-of-the-art facility will provide the quality training necessary for the next generation of physicians as we work to address health care needs in rural and underserved areas of Oklahoma.”
OSU-COM increased enrollment in each medical school class to 115 students in 2012 to help address Oklahoma’s physician shortage. The Tandy Medical Academic Building will provide expanded clinical skills labs, a new osteopathic manipulative medicine lab, classrooms, lecture hall, conference facilities and student study space to accommodate this increased enrollment.
“We are grateful to receive this gift as a continuation of A.R. and Marylouise’s legacy for expanding educational opportunities in the Tulsa community,” said Kirk Jewell, President and CEO of the OSU Foundation. “The facility will enable OSU Center for Health Sciences to impact health care for citizens in northeastern Oklahoma and across our entire state.”
OSU-CHS, in partnership with its eight OSU Physicians Clinics and OSU Medical Center, serves more than 240,000 patients each year.
Construction on the new facility is expected to begin later this year. Construction of a temporary parking lot for the project is underway.