Cherokee Nation and OSU Medicine to celebrate topping out of new medical school

Monday, November 25, 2019

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — The Cherokee Nation hoisted the final beam of the Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine at Cherokee Nation into place at 11 a.m. Monday, Nov. 25 during a Topping Out ceremony at the new facility being constructed at 19500 E. Ross St. in Tahlequah.

The OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine at the Cherokee Nation is the first tribally affiliated medical school in the country. The new medical school, an additional location of the OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine in Tulsa, will open in August of 2020 with an inaugural class of up to 50 students with a focus on educating primary care physicians who have an interest in serving rural and underserved populations in Oklahoma.

The $40 million facility will be located on the W. W. Hastings campus in Tahlequah, in the capital of the Cherokee Nation. 

The first five admitted students will attend Monday’s ceremony. Speakers will include: Cherokee Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr., Deputy Chief Bryan Warner, Council of the Cherokee Nation Speaker Joe Byrd, Dr. Kayse Shrum, President, OSU Center for Health Sciences; Executive Chairman of Cherokee Nation Businesses Bill John Baker and Dr. William J. Pettit, dean of the OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine at the Cherokee Nation.  

The 84,000 square-foot medical school building will feature an anatomy laboratory, clinical skills lab, simulation center with medical surgery, pediatrics simulation and virtual reality simulation, lecture halls and faculty areas.

 

MEDIA CONTACT: Melani Hamilton | Managing Director of Marketing & Communications | OSU Center for Health Sciences | 918-561-8462 | melani.hamilton@okstate.edu