Oregon Health & Science University

Since the earliest days of the city, biomedical research in Portland has centered on what is now called the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). It has also consistently been home to the largest number of AAI members in Oregon.

Established in 1887 as the University of Oregon (UO) Medical Department, it was the first medical school in the Pacific Northwest. A merger with the medical education program of Willamette University formed the University of Oregon Medical School, and in 1974 it became an independent institution.

Arthur W. Frisch (AAI 1956), who joined the faculty of UO Medical School as professor of bacteriology in 1946 from Wayne State University, was the first AAI member at the school. He became chair of the Department of Bacteriology in 1956 and served in that capacity until 1972. Frisch’s main research interests were serotyping and the legal aspects of blood groups.

In 1962, with a $1.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, the Oregon National Primate Research Center began operations outside Portland with the OU Medical School as its host institution. There, the hundreds of monkeys, apes, and other primate specimens were used in a wide range of research in four major areas: reproductive biology, cardiovascular and metabolic disease, cutaneous biology, and immune diseases. Arthur Malley (AAI 1969) joined the staff in 1964 and conducted research in immunology and biochemistry until his retirement in 1995. In addition to his research at the primate center, Malley taught immunology at Reed College for a number of years.

The Oregon state legislature changed the name of the UO Medical School to Oregon Health Sciences University in 1981. By that time, AAI members were represented there in several specialties, including pathology, ophthalmology, and dermatology, as well as the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. In 2001, the university merged with the Oregon Graduate Institute and the new was named the Oregon Health & Science University.