In January of 2026, the Ohio University Board of Trustees approved a resolution to move forward plans to establish the Ohio University Academic Health Sciences Center (OHIO-AHSC). The OHIO-AHSC will serve as a framework to leverage existing strengths at OHIO to bring the highest levels of excellence to Ohio University’s health-focused education, clinical training, research, community engagement, and workforce development.
An Academic Health Sciences Center is a coordinated partnership between academic programs in medicine and the health professions as well as external health care parters to jointly coordinate and elevate health care, education, workforce development and research.
As we develop the strategic direction for the OHIO-AHSC, we are focused on creating the highest level of value for our students, faculty/staff, partners, and in turn highest level of impact on improving health for the state.
Ohio University is home to the state’s largest medical school in the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine and one of the nation’s largest public health-focused colleges in the College of Health Sciences and Professions. These colleges each have long-standing partnerships with hospital systems.
Together they anchor clinical education, care delivery, and applied health research. This is enhanced by expertise from across the university, spanning technology, data, behavior, environment, communication, design, policy, and community partnership, playing a critical role in shaping health and well-being.
Establishing the OHIO Academic Health Sciences Center will align and amplify these complementary strengths, connecting education, clinical training and research with the broader views of health to expand workforce development, accelerate discovery, and ultimately expand OHIO’s impact on the state and beyond.
While some AHSC’s bring together university programs and a health system partner into a new joint entity, others operate in a partnership model in which the programs and care providers partner on research, clinical training, outreach and more through an affiliation agreement or set of agreements. OHIO intends to pursue the partnership approach, building on existing affiliation agreements.
By expanding partnerships across Ohio University’s colleges and institutes and identifying joint research initiatives with clinical partners, OHIO-AHSC hopes to drive innovation that will improve health outcomes, especially in rural and underserved communities.
Examples of ongoing health research:
Ohio University’s Diabetes Institute conducts basic and translational research and provides clinical care, education and outreach across Appalachian Ohio.
The Ohio Musculoskeletal and Neurological Institute (OMNI) is an interdisciplinary research institute advancing cutting-edge research to improve the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of musculoskeletal and neurological disorders.
The Ohio University Institute of Molecular Medicine and Aging is advancing pharmaceutical discovery and treatment innovation for aging-related conditions.
The Institute to Advance Population Health (ADVANCE) promotes research that contributes to the developing science of health equity and population health improvement through the study of health outcomes and services.
The Infectious and Tropical Disease Institute seeks to improve the health status of communities through comprehensive research on infectious and tropical diseases.
OHIO-AHSC will leverage resources across the University and clinical partnerships to expand interprofessional education, increase exposure to simulation and provide additional experiential learning opportunities for students.
Students across nursing, medicine, social work and more can benefit from simulation exercises such as this Narcan Simulation being captured for future VR training.
Labs used for telehealth training can benefit a wide variety of degree programs in the health professions.
Simulation labs may be designed for shared use across the College of Health Sciences and Professions and the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Aligning clinical partnerships across a wide variety of health professions will improve coordination and maximize the workforce development benefit for our health care partners.
Ohio University has long served as a partner to communities and health agencies to uplift health in the region. The OHIO-AHSC will align community partnerships across colleges to maximize opportunity for impact and expose students to more diverse service opportunities.
The Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine reaches rural and underserved parts of the state with its mobile clinic program.
OHIO’s Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service supports research and outreach to improve water accessibility in some of the most rural parts of the state.
The University’s leading degree program in music therapy leverages service learning opportunities to provide students with experience and deliver innovative care to communities.
Ohio University’s Center for Intervention Research in Schools works to improve access to specialized services for students with emotional or behavioral challenges.
As Ohio’s leading producer of primary care physicians and bachelor’s-trained nurses, Ohio University is well positioned to help the state close the gap on physician and health care workforce shortages.
Ohio University is the state’s largest producer of bachelor’s-trained nurses through programs in Athens, across all five of our regional campuses, and through our online RN to BSN program.
OHIO is home to specialized health care workforce training initiatives such as our SHAPE Clinic, which prepares athletic training students to care for injured performing artists.
Ohio University is the state’s largest provider of primary care physicians and focuses on recruiting and training Ohio residents to become doctors.
As one of the nation’s largest health-focused public colleges, the College of Health Sciences and Professions is home to numerous professional degrees, including speech language pathology.
In addition to our top-ranked medical school, Ohio University is home to a comprehensive College of Health Sciences and Professions that is one of the Top 5 largest health-focused colleges in the country among public universities. Programs in both colleges contribute to making OHIO the state’s largest producer of health professionals.
