University of Oklahoma

University of Oklahoma College of Medicine

OU College of Medicine
Established:	1900
Type:	Public
Endowment:	College of Medicine Endowment $300,000,000 as of July 2008
Faculty:	780
Postgraduates:	852
Location:	Oklahoma City, OK, USA
Campus:	Urban
Website:	www.OUHSC.edu

The University of Oklahoma College of Medicine was founded in 1900 as a medical department of the University of Oklahoma at its main campus in Norman. Lawrence N. Upjohn, M.D. is regarded as the "founding dean" and served from 1900-1904. In 1910, the school merged with the Epworth College of Medicine in Oklahoma City, and by 1928 all basic science and clinical facilities had been consolidated as the University of Oklahoma Medical Center in Oklahoma City, where there was a growing urban population and larger hospital facilities could be supported. By the 1960s, the College and its affiliated hospitals had grown into a large, traditional academic medical center. In 1974, a geographically separate, community-based clinical campus was established in Tulsa, approximately 100 miles northeast of the main campus.

Commonly referred to as the OU College of Medicine, the College is the only medical school in Oklahoma that grants the Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree. The College of Medicine forms the core of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center which also includes the Colleges of Dentistry, Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health, Allied Health, and Graduate Studies.

The College of Medicine has approximately 600 students enrolled in the M.D. degree program. The entering first-year class size was increased from 150 to 162 in 2006. A small portion of each year's entering medical school class is enrolled in a combined M.D./Ph.D. degree program. All medical students spend their first two years at the Oklahoma City campus. At the end of the second year, up to one-quarter of each class may elect to complete their third and fourth years clinical experiences at the Tulsa community-based campus. In addition to medical students, the College has more than 100 graduate students working on doctoral degrees in the biomedical sciences and 152 students enrolled in its physician assistant program.

The College sponsors residency and fellowship training in 52 specialities and subspecialties of medicine and has approximately 650 residents/fellows in training. The major teaching hospitals affiliated with the College in Oklahoma City are the OU Medical Center, The Children's Hospital, and the VA Medical Center. The faculty practice is known as OU Physicians and includes virtually every medical and surgical specialty and subspecialty. In 2008, the new umbrella brand "OU Medicine" was released to reflect the entire enterprise that encompasses the OU College of Medicine, OU Medical Center, The Children's Hospital, OU Physicians and the University Hospitals Authority & Trust.

At the Tulsa campus, known as the Schusterman Center, programs are affiliated with three community hospitals: Hillcrest Medical Center, Saint Francis Hospital, and St. John Medical Center. In 2008, the University announced that the Tulsa campus of the College of Medicine would become a School of Community Medicine within the College of Medicine. A separate educational track is being developed and will be implemented over the next few years.