A head-scratching set of symptoms. A boy who may be in grave danger. Can researchers solve this medical mystery before it’s too late? Xander Auld was not a fussy baby. He slept well, at least for an infant. He didn’t get sick often. And on those few occasions when he did, he didn’t carry […]
Mentors helped shape Dr. Courtney Griffin’s scientific career. Now she’s doing the same for the next generation of aspiring researchers. As a teenager, Courtney Griffin kept busy during the summers. Sometimes, she babysat her siblings. Others, she’d lend a hand at her father’s law office in Athens, Georgia, where she grew up. But it […]
“I had a really fantastic eighth-grade biology teacher, Mr. Whitaker. He taught us the coolest things about science, like slime molds and other organisms and how viruses infect bacteria. His descriptions really spoke to me. I was the kid who’d do the regular classwork plus more for extra credit. It was easy to do all […]
Dear Dr. Prescott, How close are we to solving food allergies? Russell Edwards, Norman Unfortunately, not as close as we’d like. For many years, health experts didn’t focus on the cause of food allergies. Instead, they devoted their efforts to helping those with allergies—and those at risk to develop them—avoid offending foods. These efforts translated […]
With OMRF’s new germ-free facility, researchers can study the role of microbes in human health We are outnumbered. For every human cell in our bodies, 10 others belonging to microorganisms reside in our mouths, on our skin and in our digestive tracts. To study the role these hordes of tiny hitchhikers—which we commonly think of […]
Scientific excellence requires a host of ingredients: dedication, attention to detail, resilience, innovation. Each of these, in turn, relies on having a staff that’s both talented and committed to solving difficult problems. In other words, says OMRF President Dr. Steve Prescott, “The key is people. They have to believe in the scientific mission of the […]
For Mary Long, the answer to her pain may, literally, be right around the CORNER. Her grandmother would hum as she rubbed Mary Long’s limbs with liniment. “You’re just a puny child,” she would say, shaking her head. The rubdowns soothed the youngster, but they didn’t erase the aches that seemed ever present in her […]
Doctors exhausted conventional treatments for Mike Schuster. Can an experimental OMRF drug stop his brain cancer? *** In the summer of 2010, Mike and Teresa Schuster took their two boys to Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. The Schusters live in Norman, where Teresa is an administrative assistant in the University of Oklahoma’s Office of Student Affairs and […]
The prospect of retirement was looking pretty good to Jeanne Fowler. After 45 years working in OMRF’s accounting department, she was counting down the months until she’d spend her days puttering in the garden and taking strolls with her husband, Ed, and their dog. Then she received a diagnosis of breast cancer. “Stunned is the […]
John H. Saxon, Jr., built a successful textbook publishing company around a teaching philosophy that emphasized incremental learning through the completion of problem sets. Given Saxon’s life experiences, it’s not surprising he took a drill-oriented approach to scholarship: a West Point graduate, he taught for five years at the U.S. Air Force Academy. He also […]
Dr. Paul Kincade can’t recall a more exciting time for stem cell research. And with a 50-year career as a stem cell biologist, he has a vantage point that’s second to none. Earlier this year, after more than three decades heading a lab and research program at OMRF, Kincade retired as the foundation’s vice president […]
Dear Dr. Prescott, What’s the difference between osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis? Are they both caused by inflammatory reactions? And if that’s the case, why wouldn’t rheumatoid medications also be effective for osteoarthritis? Ginger Coleman Kelso, Norman While osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis share inflammation as a common component, the conditions have different causes. That’s why some […]
When Dr. Gaurav Varshney arrived at OMRF in late 2016, the first things he purchased for his new research program were fish tanks. Lots of them. During a seven-year post-doctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., Varshney developed an expertise in studying developmental biology in paperclip-sized aquatic creatures known as zebrafish. […]
Oklahoma’s medical research foundation celebrates 70 years of life-changing discoveries In 1946, DNA was just a collection of letters. Genes were nicknames for those with the given name Eugene. And the world’s first biotech company wouldn’t be born for another three decades. But in Oklahoma, a group of physicians and business leaders saw the […]
A mystery illness robbed a Tulsa teacher of life as she knew it. An OMRF physician helped her get it back. The morning light cast a soft glow around the curtains covering the window. A food service worker pushed racks of trays past the door, leaving the smell of coffee and eggs in its […]
Under his leadership, OMRF has enjoyed a decade of scientific achievement and historic campus expansion. Still, if you ask Dr. Stephen Prescott, he’ll tell you he’s just getting started. For Dr. Stephen Prescott there was no aha! moment. No instant where everything crystallized and he just knew he had to take the helm of […]
Dr. Fred Rhodes Superintendent, Putnam City Schools “Ask our students their favorite memories of school, and the Cancer Drive always tops the list. But it’s not about the games or the trophies. It’s because they’ve learned to be philanthropists at an early age. Almost every one of our students has been touched by cancer in […]
An OMRF researcher proves there’s no need to hang up your running shoes as you age, and that makes one of her colleagues very happy. Since he first laced up his sneakers for his high school track team in the 1970s, OMRF scientist Dr. Gary Gorbsky has relied on running to help him stay […]
A farmer’s son helps clients leave a legacy Jerry Balentine learned the importance of hard work alongside his father at his family’s dairy farm in rural Garvin County. As a teen, even summer vacations centered around tilling the soil, planting the crops, caring for livestock and maintaining the dairy operation. Today, it’s hard to […]
Dear Dr. Prescott, I am a 53-year-old postmenopausal woman and have been diagnosed with osteopenia (low bone density) in my spine and hips. I run about 15 miles a week and participate in barre, Pilates and yoga weekly. I also take calcium, magnesium and vitamin D supplements daily. My mother had osteoporosis, and my two […]
