Stephen Prescott

Stephen Prescott, MD, joined the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation in 2006, becoming OMRF’s ninth president. A leader in studies of the basic mechanisms of human disease, Prescott came to OMRF from the University of Utah, where he founded the Eccles Program in Human and Molecular Biology & Genetics and served as the executive director of the Huntsman Cancer Institute, an NCI-designated cancer center. At OMRF, Prescott has overseen the largest campus expansion in the foundation’s 66-year history. The centerpiece of this growth is OMRF’s new research tower. Completed in 2011, the 186,000-square-foot tower has earned gold-level LEED certification and, crowned by 18 wind turbines, is believed to house the world’s largest rooftop wind farm. In the tower, physicians in the OMRF Multiple Sclerosis Center of Excellence treat more than 2,000 MS patients while also exploring new avenues of clinical research. The MS Center is part of OMRF’s Autoimmune Disease Institute, which has been recognized by the National Institutes of Health as one of only seven Autoimmunity Centers of Excellence in the U.S. The tower is also home to the Samuel Roberts Noble Cardiovascular Institute, where OMRF has assembled a team of internationally recognized cardiovascular biologists to study the mechanisms underlying the biology of blood clotting, hypertension and heart disease. To date, Prescott has raised nearly $85 million to fund OMRF’s expansion, which includes not only the new tower but also the addition of dozens of new principal scientists and more than 100 other employees to OMRF’s current staff. Under Prescott’s leadership, OMRF has earned six consecutive four-star ratings – the highest possible score – from Charity Navigator, the nation’s leading nonprofit evaluator. During this time, The Scientist magazine has also twice name OMRF on its lists for “Best Places to Work” in academia and for post-doctoral fellows. A native of Texas and an undergraduate at Texas A&M University, Prescott received his MD from the Baylor College of Medicine prior to completing his training in internal medicine at the University of Utah. After advanced research training at Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis), he joined the faculty of the University of Utah, where he became a professor of internal medicine and held the H.A. & Edna Benning President Endowed Chair. He has authored more than 250 scientific articles and has trained more than 40 research students and postdoctoral fellows. Prescott served as a senior editor of the influential Journal of Biological Chemistry and Journal of Clinical Investigation. He also served on advisory committees for the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society, and multiple universities. He has been elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Association of American Physicians, the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland, and the Royal Academy of Medicine in Spain. Prescott was a member of the board of the American Red Cross Biomedical Division and the National Human Genome Research Institute’s Advisory Council. He was a member of the Institute of Medicine Committee on Large-Scale Science and Cancer Research. Among other awards, he has received the Utah Governor’s Medal for Science and Technology, the Houssay-Braun-Menendez Medal from the Argentine Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Sol Sherry Prize from the American Heart Association. He has consulted for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. He is the founder of LineaGen, a biotechnology company. In 2006, following nomination by President George W. Bush and confirmation by the U.S. Senate, Prescott joined the board of trustees for the Udall Foundation.