Billionaire oil tycoon Harold Hamm donated $150 million to the University of Oklahoma to advance diabetes research and healthcare training, the university announced today. The gift is the largest in OU’s history and makes Hamm the institution’s largest individual donor, with lifetime contributions nearing $250 million. The donation will support the Harold Hamm Diabetes Center and broader health initiatives at OU’s Oklahoma City health campus.
The $150 million gift is split with $100 million funding the health campus’s overall work, including healthcare worker training and researcher recruitment. The remaining $50 million is allocated to the Harold Hamm Diabetes Center, with $30 million directed to new director John Kirwan’s research priorities and $20 million for capital improvements and infrastructure. Hamm’s initial lead gift in 2007 established the diabetes center, and he has donated more than $50 million to it since then, according to fortune.com.
This donation underscores the growing focus on diabetes research amid more than 40 million Americans living with the disease, per the American Diabetes Association. NIH research funding linked to the Harold Hamm Diabetes Center has increased from $5 million to $33 million since its founding. Hamm also created the Harold Hamm International Prize for Biomedical Research in Diabetes to honor achievements in the field, reinforcing his long-term commitment to combating the disease.
In recognition of Hamm’s contributions, OU’s Oklahoma City health campus will be renamed the Harold Hamm Health Campus. The university highlighted that Hamm, 80, founded Continental Resources in 1967 and has been a major supporter of diabetes research and healthcare education for nearly two decades.