Most mornings, the Gaylord Pavilion at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation is relatively empty, with the occasional staff member or patient passing through.
But on Friday morning, that space was anything but empty.
Hundreds of boisterous OMRF employees, all donning identical T-shirts, gathered for group photos to commemorate the foundation’s 80th birthday. “What a moment!” said OMRF President Andrew Weyrich, Ph.D., surrounded by staffers who laughed and whooped in celebration.
“The fact that OMRF exists today,” Weyrich said, “is a tribute to our entire state.”
On Aug. 28, 1946, Oklahoma’s secretary of state granted OMRF’s corporate charter, and the nonprofit foundation was officially born. But the real work would come over the next few years, when 7,500 Oklahomans made gifts that enabled OMRF to open its doors in 1950.
“It’s an amazing story,” Weyrich said. “We’re the only biomedical research institute in America that got its start with a statewide campaign.”
What began in 1946 as a two-person operation has grown into an internationally recognized research institute. OMRF now employs more than 500 staff members working to develop new ways to prevent and treat diseases of aging, autoimmune illnesses, cancer and heart disease.
The foundation treats thousands of patients living with diseases like multiple sclerosis and lupus, and a trio of life-changing drugs born in OMRF labs are now available in hospitals and clinic throughout the U.S.
That track record resonates with the foundation’s staff, who have voted OMRF one of Oklahoma’s Top Workplaces every year since independent consulting firm Energage began surveying the state’s workforce in 2013.
Debi Gibson is marking her 50th year at OMRF. She began as a data entry clerk and rose to become the foundation’s payroll manager.
For her, the foundation’s mission of helping people live longer, healthier lives serves as a north star. She was particularly moved when an OMRF scientist spoke about his efforts to save infants with a rare blood disorder. “I remember thinking, ‘Who wouldn’t want to be part of this?’,” she said.
That sentiment is shared by Lisa Nelms, OMRF’s accounting director. Like Gibson, Nelms is marking her 50th anniversary at OMRF this year.
“If you let it, OMRF becomes part of you,” Nelms said.
