With its most recent gift to the OU Health Sciences Center, an Oklahoma couple has now donated more than $30 million to improve the university’s diabetes research.
Harold and Sue Ann Hamm donated $20 million, the largest single gift to the HSC, to the Harold Hamm Oklahoma Diabetes Center on March 13 to create more research opportunities and improve diabetes care throughout Oklahoma, OU spokesman Chris Shilling said.
In 2007, the couple donated $10.5 million, which was used to create faculty positions, build a facility and support research, according to a press release from the Hamm Center.
“Added to their previous support, Harold and Sue Ann Hamm have provided more than $30 million to help us create an internationally top-ranked, university-based center for diabetes research and clinical care,” OU President David Boren said in a statement.
The donation is the start of a fundraising drive by the Hamm Center to raise $100 million in the next five years, according to the press release.
“This is bringing in expertise and a faculty research line to boost the quality of the program,” Shilling said. “[Harold Hamm] is one of those guys who would not give that much money unless he knew it was doing something meaningful and specific.”
Diabetes affects 600,000 Oklahomans, according to the press release.
“Diabetes is a pervasive disease that has had a devastating impact on young and old Oklahomans alike, especially among our Native American and in other minority communities,” Boren said. “The Harold Hamm Diabetes Center is on a mission to find a cure.”
Hamm center administrators are still deciding how the donation will be spent, but it will go toward research and helping establish the center as a world-renowned facility, Administrative Director Julie Traylor said.
The funds may go toward creating a new endowed chair to entice strong leaders to the center or toward research, Shilling said.
“This funding is all very intentional,” Shilling said. “It will all go toward the mission to create one of the best diabetes centers in the world.”
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