Media Kit - OHSU News

Oregon National Primate Research Center advances human health

Wed, 30 Apr 2025 00:01:00 GMT

A sign at the entrance of the Oregon National Primate Research Center. (OHSU)

As one of the seven centers nationwide, the Oregon National Primate Research Center is supported by the National Institutes of Health to help people across generations live longer, healthier lives. The center, which is operated by Oregon Health & Science University on a 165-acre campus in Hillsboro originally established in 1962, performs basic science research with an emphasis on translating scientific understanding to improve human health. The center includes more than 500 scientists, veterinarians, behaviorists and other front-line workers dedicated to the humane treatment of a colony of about 5,000 nonhuman primates.

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OHSU Knight Cancer Institute offers the latest treatments, technologies, hundreds of research studies and clinical trials

Sun, 16 Mar 2025 20:26:00 GMT

The OHSU Knight Cancer Research building in Portland. The OHSU Knight Cancer Institute offers the latest treatments and technologies as well as hundreds of research studies and clinical trials. (OHSU/Christine Torres Hicks)

The OHSU Knight Cancer Institute is an international leader in cancer research and personalized cancer treatment. With the mission of ending cancer as we know it, the Knight Cancer Institute continues to build its scientific and clinical leadership and cancer treatment resources. Every year, the institute treats about 6,000 patients and conducts about 1,400 research projects, including more than 400 clinical trials. Public support — including from the State of Oregon and private philanthropy — has provided crucial resources to advance its progress.

Building on Phil and Penny Knight’s initial $1 billion gift a decade ago, their record-breaking $2 billion commitment in 2025 accelerates the Knight Cancer Institute’s mission to end cancer. The institute is driving innovations in prevention, treatment and cures for future generations.

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OHSU a leader in addiction medicine

Thu, 16 Jan 2025 22:05:00 GMT

Boxes of Naloxone sit on a shelf inside the OHSU pharmacy in Portland. OHSU has established national leadership in addiction medicine, including through promoting widespread access and distribution of naloxone to reverse overdoses. (OHSU) (OHSU/Christine Torres Hicks)

Oregon Health & Science University has established national leadership in the field of addiction medicine. In the hospital, OHSU provides addiction intervention for patients hospitalized with infections and other acute medical conditions caused by their underlying substance use disorder — an initiative that has become a national model. Across the state of Oregon, OHSU addiction medicine specialists are working with health care professionals and community leaders to improve addiction care in urban and rural areas alike. OHSU’s addiction medicine program trains community providers and health care professionals receiving medical training at OHSU, recognizing that addiction is a medical condition affecting the wider community, and not a moral failing limited to individuals.

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Amid limited healthcare resources, OHSU coordinating critical care for patients across the state

Thu, 19 Sep 2024 16:06:00 GMT

In July 2020, Matthias Merkel, M.D., Ph.D., checks hospital data across multiple hospitals at OHSU Mission Control. What started as a coordination effort initiated by OHSU during the coronavirus pandemic grew into a permanent information-sharing initiative among the state and other health systems, providing centralized resources and real-time coordination of patient care. (OHSU/Kristyna Wentz-Graff)

At the height of the coronavirus pandemic, Oregon Health & Science University initiated the creation of COVID Capacity Center, coordinating health systems across the state to better serve Oregonians who need a higher level of critical care than was available in their communities. That center evolved into a permanent information-sharing initiative among the state and other health systems called the Oregon Medical Coordination Center, or OMCC. Headquarters at OHSU’s Mission Control, the OMCC team uses real-time data about hospital bed availability and available critical care services to efficiently place patients in facilities where they can be treated. The OMCC was essential for Oregon's response to the coronavirus pandemic, and later proved invaluable during other public health emergencies. Since then, OHSU has received state and federal funding to grow the coordination center to behavioral health, creating the Oregon Behavioral Health Coordination Center, or OBCC. Like OMCC, the OBCC will be a hub for information about bed capacity among facilities that provide inpatient mental health care. As the U.S. faces ongoing challenges with health care resources and staffing, OHSU will continue to innovate and advance statewide collaboration, so all Oregonians can receive the care they need.

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OHSU provides region’s premier women’s health services, at forefront of leading-edge research

Tue, 19 Sep 2023 18:46:00 GMT

Alyssa Colwill, M.D., right, talks with an OB/GYN resident. From contraception to menopause, and pregnancy to cancer, OHSU is improving women's health care every day. (OHSU/Christine Torres Hicks)

Oregon Health & Science University’s Center for Women’s Health works to improve the way that thousands of women in Oregon and beyond access and experience health care. OHSU’s dedicated staff provide outstanding care for women of all ages and stages of life, with care specialties including fertility and family planning, gynecology, primary care, pregnancy and childbirth and more. Additionally, OHSU physician-scientists continue to advance groundbreaking research, from the impacts of COVID-19 on menstrual cycles, to the efficacy of telehealth in maternal care, to studying fetal development, and more. Historically, women have been under-represented in clinical trials in all areas of health research, including contraception, reproductive health, vaccines and beyond. As the state's only academic health center, OHSU's work leads to new standards of care and a better understanding of women’s health.

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OHSU a leader in eye health care and research

Fri, 15 Sep 2023 22:46:00 GMT

The Luxturna treatment is injected into Caspian Soto's eye. Soto was among first in Oregon to have new treatment for rare, blindness-causing genetic mutation, September 17, 2018 at the OHSU Casey Eye Institute, which is home to both comprehensive eye care and top researchers developing the next generation of treatments for many eye conditions. (OHSU)

Beyond offering comprehensive eye care, Oregon Health & Science University’s Casey Eye Institute is also home to top researchers developing the next generation of treatments for many eye conditions. For example, while the institute’s ophthalmologists provide an FDA-approved gene therapy for one form of inherited blindness, its physician-scientists are also developing and evaluating other promising gene therapies for a variety of vision-threatening gene mutations. The institute is also home to the Center for Ophthalmic Optics & Lasers, where OHSU scientists refine and advance optical coherence tomography, or OTC, and other imaging technologies. Outside of the lab and exam room, the Casey Community Outreach Program’s mobile eye clinic since 2010 has traveled to communities in every corner of the state on a mission to prevent blindness in underserved and historically marginalized Oregonians. The program has also partnered with community clinics to create the Oregon Vision Health Network, where trained community health workers assess local patients for eye issues and refer them to local specialists when medical intervention is needed.

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OHSU provides the most comprehensive fetal surgery, complex pediatric care in the state

Wed, 13 Sep 2023 19:55:00 GMT

Infants who underwent a successful in-utero surgery are visited by their surgeons, Raphael Sun, M.D., and Andrew Chon, M.D., who have expanded OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital fetal care team to include treatments of babies still in the womb. (OHSU/Christine Torres Hicks)

Oregon Health & Science University’s Doernbecher Children’s Hospital program offers the most complex fetal and pediatric care in the state. Since expanding its fetal care program in 2022, the children’s hospital can provide in-utero treatments for nearly a dozen complex conditions that occur during pregnancy. It is one of only five programs nationally to provide medical and surgical interventions for high-risk pregnancies and newborns, all under one roof. In addition to clinical care, OHSU scientists are at the leading edge of research into fetal conditions and development, examining how fetal development affects childhood health outcomes and more. As Oregon’s only academic health center, OHSU serves the most complex cases referred from throughout the region, and advances innovation and discovery in fetal and pediatric care.

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OHSU changing lives with innovative neurological procedures

Fri, 08 Sep 2023 22:44:00 GMT

OHSU neurosurgeons Ahmed Raslan, M.D., at left, and Maryam Shahin, M.D., collaborate during OHSU’s first case using high-frequency focused ultrasound to treat essential tremor on March 30, 2022. (OHSU/Christine Torres Hicks)

Oregon Health & Science University provides the most complex clinical care for neurological conditions in the state. And, from educating neurosurgeons to participating in clinical trials and treating patients, OHSU physicians and scientists are innovators in brain research, education and health care. For example, OHSU was the first center in Oregon to offer high-intensity focused ultrasound for treatment of tremor-dominant Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor, a condition that causes involuntary rhythmic trembling of the hands often so severe that patients can’t so much as sip a cup of coffee, sign their name or otherwise care for themselves. OHSU was also one of the first centers in the country to perform a new type of brain procedure to treat an intractable form of epilepsy; the first patient in Oregon to undergo the treatment is now living nearly seizure-free. Through its Brain Institute, OHSU continues to on the leading edge of innovations in patient care and scientific understanding.

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OHSU continues to lead advancement in reproductive health

Fri, 08 Sep 2023 21:10:00 GMT

In the face of expanding health disparities, Oregon Health & Science University has been a leader in meeting the growing need for reproductive health services, including abortion, and in educating the next generation of OB/GYNs. (OHSU/Christine Torres Hicks)

As Americans face a sharp curtailment of reproductive rights since the overturn of Roe v. Wade, Oregon Health & Science University is committed to providing the full continuum of sexual and reproductive health care to all who seek it, and to educating the next generation of clinicians. Key efforts include the launching of OHSU’s Center for Reproductive Health Equity; working to provide access to abortion services for out-of-state patients; advising on international efforts to improve reproductive health; and offering abortion training for medical residents who live in states where abortion is banned or restricted, and, therefore, don’t have access to clinical experience with abortion care as part of their family planning training. OHSU is committed to providing the full continuum of sexual and reproductive health care to all who seek it, and to educating the next generation of clinicians and advancing groundbreaking research.

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Applying principles of public health to reduce gun injuries and death

Fri, 04 Aug 2023 21:13:00 GMT

Kathleen Carlson, Ph.D., director of the newly developing OHSU Gun Violence Prevention Research Center, stands outside the OHSU Hospital emergency department on Marquam Hill. (OHSU/Christine Torres Hicks)

As injuries and deaths related to firearms occur in Oregon and across the nation, researchers at Oregon Health & Science University are addressing this issue as they do with any other matter of public health: by tracking evidence; developing multifaceted strategies to reduce risk; and scientifically evaluating those strategies. Led by Kathleen Carlson, Ph.D., OHSU’s developing Gun Violence Prevention Research Center seeks to reduce firearm injuries and deaths by harnessing the same public health principles used to improve motor vehicle safety and reduce harm from substance use.

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Pioneering research seeking to prevent inherited disease and treat infertility

Fri, 07 Jul 2023 21:32:00 GMT

OHSU scientists and clinicians are working to advance scientific understanding of gene therapy to advance human health. (OHSU) 

Oregon Health & Science University established the Center for Embryonic Cell and Gene Therapy in 2014. The center, directed by Shoukhrat Mitalipov, Ph.D., is an international leader in advancing scientific understanding in using genetic tools to treat or even prevent the transmission of inherited disease from parent to child, and to treat infertility and age-related chronic degenerative diseases.

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