o foster the continued growth and expansion of biomedical research and related commercial efforts that further health care, the University of Oklahoma and the Presbyterian Health Foundation are finalizing work toward OU’s purchase of the PHF Research Park.

Stanton L. Young and the Presbyterian Health Foundation, working with the Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority, began putting together the land on which the Research Park was built in the mid-1980s with the hope of building a state-of-the-art research park tied to the medical center.

“This sale will advance the groundwork established by the Presbyterian Health Foundation to further medical research in Oklahoma to save and enhance human life,” said PHF Board Chairman Carl Edwards.

“The Presbyterian Health Foundation and the University of Oklahoma have a long history of mutual efforts to advance health care,” said OU President David L. Boren. “The OU Health Sciences Center will use the solid foundation established at the Research Park as a springboard to further biomedical research, encourage commercialization of equipment and technologies, and grow jobs in Oklahoma while advancing health care. The Research Park will continue to be one of Oklahoma’s major engines for economic growth and resource for learning, discovery and innovation in today’s knowledge-based, technologically-driven, global society.”

“This transaction furthers the shared goal of OU and the Presbyterian Health Foundation to grow biomedical research in our state to benefit health care in Oklahoma and nationwide,” said Dr. Dewayne Andrews, senior vice president and provost for the OU Health Sciences Center. “OU’s purchase of this property will establish a continuing affiliation dedicated to supporting biomedical research companies in their efforts to commercialize new equipment and technologies while significantly enhancing the infrastructure available to support increasingly successful OU Health Sciences Center research activities.”

The PHF Research Park is located west of Lincoln Boulevard between Northeast 8th Street and Northeast 4th Street and includes more than 700,000 square feet of modern biomedical research lab and office space supported by state-of-the-art communications and infrastructure systems.