The University of Oklahoma Board of Regents approved an ambitious plan in Tulsa today to incrementally increase enrollment in the Doctor of Medicine (MD) program in the OU College of Medicine at OU Health Sciences by more than 40% over the next five years – a strategic initiative designed to address the critical demand for additional health care professionals in Oklahoma.

After years of decreasing amputations in the United States, rates of non-traumatic lower extremity amputations due to diabetes and related conditions are rising, and Oklahoma is among the states with the most pronounced increase, a new University of Oklahoma study has found.

Chittur A. Sivaram, M.D., a David Ross Boyd Professor in the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine and a cardiologist with OU Health, has been named a Master of the American College of Cardiology (MACC). This is the first time an Oklahoma cardiologist has received the honor.

Lee Jennings, M.D., a geriatrician and researcher at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, is a co-investigator on the largest nationwide pragmatic clinical trial comparing different approaches to dementia care for people with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. The study found no significant differences in patient behavioral symptoms or caregiver strain between care delivered through a health system, care provided by a community-based organization, or usual care over an 18-month period.

The University of Oklahoma College of Medicine has named Jun Li, Ph.D., the founding chair of the newly created Department of Molecular Genetics and Genome Sciences, pending approval from the OU Board of Regents.