OKLAHOMA CITY, Sept. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The University of Oklahoma today announced an historic $150 million gift from Harold Hamm, the largest single gift in university history, to lift the health of Oklahoma by advancing health education, research and discovery, strengthening the state's health care workforce and accelerating the pursuit of breakthroughs against Oklahoma's critical public health challenges.
In recognition of Hamm's extraordinary generosity and the lasting impact of his vision, OU's Health Campus in Oklahoma City will be named the Harold Hamm Health Campus at the University of Oklahoma.
The gift makes Hamm the largest individual donor in OU history, with his lifetime giving to the university approaching $250 million. Of the $150 million commitment, $50 million will advance the next era of research and discovery at the Harold Hamm Diabetes Center, while $100 million will advance the broader academic and research enterprise of the Health Campus.
"Harold Hamm is a global visionary who has spent his life seeing what is possible and having the courage to act on it," said OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. "His remarkable story embodies the American Dream, and the ambition and determination that define Oklahoma. Today, he sees a university, a state and a community that have built the people, partnerships and capacity to change the trajectory of health in Oklahoma. This gift is about far more than its historic size. It is Harold's belief in what is now possible and an invitation to all of us to seize this moment and improve lives for generations to come."
A Moment Decades in the Making
Hamm's investment comes at a pivotal moment for health in Oklahoma. The state continues to face significant health challenges and an urgent need for more health professionals. At the same time, over the past several years, growing investment and alignment among OU, the state of Oklahoma, federal leaders and agencies, tribal nations, philanthropy, health care partners and others have strengthened an academic health system with greater capacity than ever before to confront those challenges.
The Harold Hamm Health Campus brings together six health professions colleges and the university's Graduate College, more than 4,100 students, along with a growing community of researchers, educators and clinicians. The campus educates 80% of Oklahoma's health care workforce, while its research enterprise has grown rapidly and this year earned Oklahoma's first-ever Top 100 national ranking in National Institutes of Health funding.
OU is building on that momentum through Project 200, its effort to recruit more than 200 world-class researchers in areas where discovery can have an outsized impact on Oklahoma and the nation. Health is one of Project 200's four major areas of focus, with 150 health campus researchers being recruited in diabetes and metabolic disease, cancer, neuroscience and other fields with the potential to prevent disease, ease suffering and save lives.
That growing strength in education and research is closely connected to the third component of Oklahoma's academic health system: patient care. OU Health, the university's clinical partner, recently celebrated its fifth anniversary following one of the most remarkable academic health system turnarounds in the country. Today, OU Health serves more than 1 million patient visits annually and has significantly expanded access to specialty and subspecialty care across Oklahoma. As OU recruits leading scientists and physician-scientists, their research can create new opportunities for clinical trials, treatments and other advances for patients whose conditions require the highest levels of specialized expertise and care.
"Our goal is simple: turn what we learn in the research lab into better care at the bedside," said Jonathan W. Curtright, MBA, MHA, president and CEO of OU Health. "Bringing more leading researchers and physician-scientists to Oklahoma through Project 200 means more clinical trials, new treatments and the latest discoveries reaching our patients sooner. Harold Hamm's investment will accelerate that work for Oklahomans."
A Vision for Changing Lives
It is that convergence – profound need coupled with growing capacity to address it – that Hamm sees as an opportunity to change the game.
Throughout his career, Hamm has taken on consequential challenges where he believed bold action could make a meaningful difference in people's lives. From his pioneering work in American energy to his advocacy for affordable insulin, his approach has remained consistent: recognize an opportunity others may not yet see, bring together the people and resources necessary to pursue it, and act.
His nearly two-decade commitment to fighting diabetes offers one of the clearest examples.
After being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in his 50s, Hamm turned his attention to a disease that affects hundreds of thousands of Oklahomans. In 2007, his lead gift helped establish the OU Health Harold Hamm Diabetes Center around an ambitious goal: improve the lives of people with diabetes while pursuing the discoveries that could ultimately lead to a cure.
Since then, Hamm has invested more than $50 million in that effort, helping OU recruit leading scientists and build the technology and infrastructure needed to pursue breakthrough research. NIH research dollars at OU associated with the diabetes center has grown from $5 million to $33 million since its founding, significantly expanding its research capacity.
Hamm also established the Harold Hamm International Prize for Biomedical Research in Diabetes, the world's largest international prize of its kind and widely regarded as the "Nobel Prize" of diabetes research.
Beyond the laboratory, Hamm took his fight against diabetes to Washington, advocating for more affordable and accessible insulin and providing leadership and vision in support of the Affordable Insulin Now Act, which sought to cap patients' out-of-pocket insulin costs at $35 per month.
His involvement has extended to recruiting the scientists who will lead the next phase of research and healing.
This month, world-renowned translational scientist John P. Kirwan, Ph.D., joined OU as executive director of the Harold Hamm Diabetes Center, vice provost for diabetes programs and Chickasaw Nation Endowed Chair in Diabetes Research. Kirwan's recruitment through Project 200 reflects the scale of OU's ambitions: bringing leading researchers to Oklahoma who can build teams, attract additional research investment and move discoveries toward new treatments and cures.
"The Harold Hamm Diabetes Center was built on the belief that bringing together the best minds and giving them the resources to pursue bold ideas can change lives and ultimately cure diabetes," Hamm said earlier this year in announcing Kirwan's recruitment. "We've come a long way in our fight against diabetes, but I believe our most important discoveries are still ahead of us."
Of Hamm's new $50 million investment in the center, $30 million will support Dr. Kirwan and his priorities in advancing the HHDC, while $20 million will support capital improvements and research infrastructure. Together, those investments are intended to accelerate research aimed at preventing and treating diabetes, reducing its devastating complications and ultimately finding a cure.
"The greatest things this country has ever accomplished started with people willing to believe something better was possible — and then willing to do the work to make it happen. I've spent my life believing that when you see an opportunity to change the future, you don't stand on the sidelines — you act. Oklahoma has given me more than I could ever repay, and I can think of no greater investment than in the health and lives of its people," Hamm said. "We have an extraordinary opportunity right now to bring the very best minds in medicine and science to Oklahoma, give them the resources to pursue discoveries that once seemed impossible, and build something here that can change lives far beyond our state. My hope is that this gift will help make Oklahoma a place where the next great medical breakthrough happens — where diseases are prevented, lives are saved and, one day, diseases like diabetes are cured. That is a legacy worth building."
Building What Comes Next
The remaining $100 million will extend that same ambition across the Harold Hamm Health Campus – helping OU educate more of the health professionals Oklahoma urgently needs, recruit leading researchers and give them the tools and infrastructure to pursue discoveries that can improve and save lives.
The investment builds on significant momentum. OU's overall research activity has increased more than 70% over the past six years, while the Health Campus has experienced record enrollment growth and surpassed 4,000 students for the first time. This year, the Health Campus earned its first-ever Top 100 ranking in NIH funding, placing it among the top 4% of institutions nationwide that receive NIH support, according to the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research.
For Hamm, that progress – and the collective investment behind it – helped create the opportunity he sees today.
The naming of the Harold Hamm Health Campus recognizes his extraordinary lifetime impact on OU, but his latest commitment is intended to do more than commemorate what has already been accomplished. It is designed to accelerate what comes next – and serve as a catalyst for others who share the belief that Oklahoma's health challenges do not have to define its future.
"This is a moment decades in the making," said Gary Raskob, Ph.D., senior vice president and provost of the Harold Hamm Health Campus. "Harold's investment builds on the commitment of countless people and partners who have helped strengthen health education, research and patient care in Oklahoma.
