Contents
1998 Research Report Main Page
Report from the Vice President for Research
Center for Laser and Photonics Research
College of Business Administration
College of Engineering, Architecture, and Technology
College of Human Environmental Sciences
College of Osteopathic Medicine
College of Veterinary Medicine
Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources
Related Links
Research Report archives 1993-1997
Go to College of Osteopathic Medicine Abstracts
The College of Osteopathic Medicine is actively expanding its role in the training of the next generation of research scholars through the development of new graduate education programs in Tulsa.
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Dr. Warren Finn works in his laboratory trying to develop prosthetic devices to be used in artificial vision. |
The College of Osteopathic
Medicine (COM) is the newest college in the OSU family. It became
part of OSU in 1988 after being established in 1972 as a free-standing
medical college to help provide physicians for rural Oklahoma.
Having a successful history of development in that area, it is
actively expanding its role as a contributor to the acquisition
of new knowledge and the training of the next generation of research
scholars through the development of new graduate education programs
in Tulsa. Faculty numbers are increasing, helping to generate
a critical mass of biomedical researchers on this campus and
in the Tulsa metropolitan area. Another existing area of expansion
includes the opening of a 20-man hypobaric chamber for research
and training. The chamber is temporarily being housed on the
Air Park Campus of Tulsa Technology Center and represents OSU-COM's
contribution to the Tulsa Aviation Education Alliance, a confederation
of programs related to aviation training and research from several
northeastern higher education campuses. A new campus is now under
construction at the R.L. Jones Airport in south Tulsa and will
house the "hypo" as well as a new multiperson hyperbaric
chamber for research, training, and hyperbaric medical treatments.
An important area of development
for this college, OSU, and Tulsa, was the approval by the State
Regents of a Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program. The first
students were admitted for the Fall 1997 semester. Additional
programs under discussion are graduate programs in Forensic Science,
Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy and a multi-institutional
program (i.e., OSU, OSU-COM, TU) in Biomedical Engineering. Programs
such as these will play an important role in attracting high
tech industries to Tulsa and N.E. Oklahoma.
The research program at OSU-COM
actively encourages medical students to become involved in research.
Programs range from original questions posed by the student to
a simple involvement with ongoing research projects at OSU-COM.
The Auxiliary to the Oklahoma Osteopathic Association sponsors
a Student Research Fellowship Program, which rewards student
interest and activity in clinical and basic research projects.
The college's hope is that programs such as this one will help
the college train physician researchers for the future.
Researchers at OSU-COM, like any other medical school, fall within two general categories, clinical and basic sciences. The first of these, Clinical Research, has goals in the areas of prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of various diseases of man, as well as several focused programs in behavioral medicine. The second area, Biomedical or Basic Sciences Research involves faculty-initiated research programs investigating health-related issues using non-human models (i.e., animal and cell culture systems) in an effort to answer questions related to the basic mechanisms of cell-cell interactions, cell biology, physiology, pharmacology, microbiology, and biochemistry.