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OHSU leaders outline statewide role of Oregon's only academic health center, explain public-corporation structure
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Summary
Interim OHSU President Steve Statham and Chief of Staff Connie Seeley told the House Committee on Higher Education that Oregon Health & Science University combines education, research and clinical care statewide, and described its public-corporation status and recent board changes.
Oregon Health & Science University leaders told the House Committee on Higher Education and Workforce Development on Jan. 28 that OHSU operates as both a clinical health system and an academic institution, delivering research, education and complex clinical care across Oregon.
"OHSU is Oregon's only academic health center," Interim President Steve Statham said, adding that the university's missions of "education, healthcare and research are the core of everything we do." He said OHSU had about 5,100 students, residents, fellows and postdoctoral researchers and that researchers brought in more than $580,000,000 in grants and funding over the past year.
Why it matters: Statham and Connie Seeley, chief of staff to the president and secretary to OHSU's board, stressed that OHSU's combined university-and-hospital model concentrates specialized care, research and training that serve patients statewide and that OHSU's footprint extends beyond Portland through telemedicine, rural training rotations and community partnerships.
Statham described clinical and research work that draws patients from across the state and said OHSU ranks nationally for NIH funding, noting it placed 28th out of 143 institutions in NIH awards. He cited examples including nursing-enrollment expansion plans and statewide clinical-trial enrollment through the Knight Cancer Institute.
Seeley described OHSU's unusual governance: she said the university has been a public corporation since the mid-1990s and explained that, under Oregon statute, a public corporation carries out public missions on behalf of the state while receiving operating flexibility to compete in markets. Seeley said the OHSU board is appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Oregon Senate and noted that the legislature passed Senate Bill 423 in 2023 to expand the board to 11 members, adding faculty, staff and a student seat.
Committee members raised questions about federal developments and institutional changes. Representative Sarah Finger McDonald, who joined remotely, said she was concerned about reports of NIH grant pauses and asked whether OHSU research is affected. Statham replied, "We are just processing that information, today ourselves. So we're evaluating and trying to gain an understanding of that pause in research, what it means and understand what the potential impacts would be. But we're obviously concerned about any disruption to our research."
Representative Grama asked about a pending institutional merger and how public accountability would be preserved. Seeley and Statham said the merged entity would continue to report to the OHSU board of directors, which holds fiduciary responsibility and whose members are appointed and confirmed under state law.
The presentation emphasized OHSU's statewide programs: required rural rotations for medical students, partnerships that let students complete nursing degrees at regional campuses, telemedicine networks supporting specialty care at 16 hospitals, and community grant programs that enroll patients from all 36 counties in clinical trials.
Ending: Committee Chair Hudson moved on to the next panel after members thanked the presenters. No formal action was taken during this informational presentation.
