Sept. 17, 2018

The OHSU Center for Ethics in Health Care has received a five-year, $1M endowment grant from the Storms Family Foundation to expand the Program in Compassionate Communication.

In the news: Read more about the Program in Compassionate Communication on the OHSU News hub and Kaiser Health News

The center has previously received a three-year, $300,000 grant from the foundation to launch this program, and is now poised to build on their momentum to further develop this critical element of healthcare education.

"The Storms Family Foundation has been a visionary partner in the creation of OHSU's Program in Compassionate Communication," said Susan Tolle, M.D., professor of medicine, Division of Internal Medicine and Geriatrics, OHSU School of Medicine, and director of the OHSU Center for Ethics in Health Care. "Last year's gift allowed us to begin building the program that has quickly become a national leader in how students are tested in their communication skills."

Dr. Tolle continued, "With this new, extraordinarily generous gift we can now expand the program to include not only medical students, but also practicing physicians who were not trained in communication skills, and pharmacy students who need to be empowered to prevent medical mistakes. We are greatly indebted to The Storms Family Foundation for recognizing the remarkable momentum of the program, and the urgent need to make health care safer, more empowering and more compassionate."

The center is now performing a nationwide search for the inaugural endowed chair, and developing enhanced trainings.