New research facility to be built on the Athens campus

Planning for a new building for translational research on the Athens campus is underway, following approval by the Ohio University Board of Trustees in October 2022. The building will be named the Heritage Translational Research Center, in honor of the university’s ongoing partnership with the Osteopathic Heritage Foundation (OHF).

The new building will create a collaborative ecosystem to support clinical and translational research by providing space to support the success and growth of human subject research, while including space for community health and basic research (including a new vivarium).

In addition to serving the Heritage College, the building will also support several other colleges and an array of health-related institutes, including the Ohio Musculoskeletal and Neurological Institute, the Diabetes Institute and the Infectious Disease Institute, all within the Heritage College, as well as the Appalachian Institute to Advance Health Equity Science in the College of Health Sciences and Professions. Overall, the facility will service faculty and students from almost every college within Ohio University.

“Our goal is that the new facility will promote team science, not just at the college but across the university, by bringing like-minded research teams together in one space,” Darlene Berryman, Ph.D., R.D., L.D., associate dean of the Office of Research and Innovation said. “We expect the HTRC will enhance the visibility of OHIO’s research efforts across the university, the community and state.”

The building is being named in honor of the Osteopathic Heritage Foundation, which is providing a $16.2 million gift to support the construction. In 2011, the Osteopathic Heritage Foundation made a historic $105 million award called Vision 2020: Leading the Transformation of Primary Care in Ohio, to the college. The award has enabled many projects, including the construction of Heritage Hall in Athens, which opened in 2021, and the Heritage College’s Dublin campus.

“Thanks in large part to the OHF’s exceptional generosity, the Heritage College is leading the transformation of primary care in Ohio. And now, through our continued partnership, the Osteopathic Heritage Foundations will help us deliver on our vision by taking our research strategy to the next level,” Ken Johnson, D.O., executive dean of Heritage College said. “Our hope is that the Heritage Translational Research Center will be a hub for discovery, bringing together the college, university, our healthcare partners and the broader community.”