OHSU is Oregon’s only allopathic medical school. As such, the school has a unique role to play in Oregon’s health care system. A key part of this is ensuring that Oregon has the highest quality and most geographically well-distributed health care workforce possible. The School of Medicine is committed to helping create a workforce that reflects demographic diversity of all types — cultural, socio-economic and geographic. Oregon, like the rest of the nation, is facing a physician workforce shortage, especially in rural settings and in primary care specialties. The School of Medicine has initiatives underway to address shortages and to enhance educational curriculum to match future health care needs. Meeting the school's goals and Oregon’s needs will require campus expansion.

The School of Medicine has already outgrown its space on the Marquam Hill campus in Portland. Thanks to a gift of 20 acres of land on Portland’s South Waterfront from Schnitzer Investment Corp., plus an anonymous gift of $40 million to expand the School of Medicine's new South Waterfront campus, the future looks bright for Oregon’s only comprehensive academic health center. But it will take an unprecedented partnership between public and private funders to realize the potential of the Schnitzer campus.