The Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation has named Stephen Prescott, M.D., president, effective May 1, 2006.
Prescott, 58, comes to OMRF from the University of Utah, where he is a professor of internal medicine and holds the H.A. & Edna Benning Presidential Endowed Chair. An internationally recognized leader in the studies of the basic mechanisms of human disease, he founded the Eccles Program in Human and Molecular Biology and Genetics at the university and, until recently, was the executive director of the university’s Huntsman Cancer Institute.
Prescott will be the fifth full-time, salaried president in the history of OMRF, which celebrates its 60th birthday this year. He succeeds J. Donald Capra, M.D., who is retiring after leading the foundation since 1997.
“We searched nationwide for someone who is not only a leading scientist but also a visionary leader capable of carrying OMRF to new heights,” said Len Cason, chair of OMRF’s board of directors. “In Dr. Stephen Prescott, we believe we have found that person.”
A native of Texas, Prescott received his undergraduate degree at Texas A&M University and his M.D. degree from the Baylor College of Medicine. He has authored more than 250 scientific articles, served as a senior editor of the influential Journal of Biological Chemistry and is on the board of the Journal of Clinical Investigation. He has also served on medical and scientific advisory committees for the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association.
He is the founder and CEO of LineaGen, a Utah-based nonprofit biotechnology company, and chaired the Utah Governor’s Task Force on Technology Transfer. Among the awards he has received are the Utah Governor’s Medal for Science and Technology, the Sol Sherry Prize from the American Heart Association, and the Houssay-Braun-Menendez Medal from the Argentine Association for the Advancement of Science.
“Dr. Prescott is an internationally respected physician-scientist whose innovative research has opened new avenues to treat human disease,” said OMRF Vice President for Research Rodger McEver, M.D., who has collaborated on research papers with Prescott in the past. “His breadth of knowledge and stellar record of scientific achievement make him a perfect fit for OMRF.”
At the University of Utah’s Huntsman Cancer Institute, which Prescott led from 1999 through 2005, he raised $180 million in private contributions and secured more than $100 million in government funding. He expanded the institute with the addition of dozens of new researchers and the construction of the Huntsman Cancer Hospital, a 330,000-square-foot comprehensive cancer treatment facility. Under Prescott’s leadership, the institute was designated the official cancer center of Utah by the state legislature.
Prescott knows OMRF well, having served on its scientific board of visitors from 1994 through 2000 and as an external advisor to a program project grant at the foundation for five years in the 1990s.
“OMRF is home to a group of scientists who are both immensely talented and respected worldwide,” said Prescott. “They, along with the tremendous support of the people of Oklahoma, are the reason this institution shines.”
Prescott takes the reins of OMRF following a decade of growth that has seen the foundation’s support from the National Institutes of Health increase by more than 200 percent and its employee base grow from the mid-300s to its current level of 540. Its scientists have achieved numerous research milestones in the fields of cardiovascular disease, cancer and immunology, and Alzheimer’s and brain diseases.
“To remain on the leading edge of biomedicine, OMRF must continue to grow,” said Prescott. “We must add new investigators, expand and update our laboratories, and build our strength in translational research—bringing discoveries from the laboratory to the bedside.”
Prescott cited OMRF’s $100 million Imagine fundraising campaign, which launched in February 2005 and is currently ongoing, as crucial to this growth. He also emphasized the need for support from other sources, such as government, to build research infrastructure. In addition, Prescott indicated that strengthening collaborations with the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center would be a priority.
“Over the past six decades, the people of Oklahoma have created a gem of an institution,” said Prescott. “I am both humbled and enthused by the chance to help build on the work of so many talented, committed individuals. I can’t wait to get started.”
About OMRF:
Celebrating its 60th birthday in 2006, OMRF (www.omrf.org) is a nonprofit biomedical research institute dedicated to understanding and curing human disease. Its scientists focus on such critical research areas as Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, lupus and cardiovascular disease. It is home to Oklahoma’s only member of the National Academy of Sciences.
