Oklahoma Health Center: OkHealthCenter.com

Health, Demography and the Central Core Economy
By Brenda Workman
Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce

As appeared in The Journal Record, January 29, 2026

The health sector is a rapidly-growing component helping to drive the economy of Oklahoma City’s Central Core and beyond. This is not surprising because of two reasons. First, Oklahoma City’s central area is blessed with the presence of health institutions which have blossomed into a fertile crescent around the area’s north and east edge. The geographic crescent contains the medical complex of St. Anthony’s and the Oklahoma Health Center. Second, the health economy is growing rapidly here and all over the nation because of remarkable technological and demographic change. Future growth of the health sector virtually guarantees the future prosperity of Central Oklahoma City.

We are all amazed at advances in health care technology—new medicines, new equipment, new specialized procedures. These services are best organized where they are centrally located serving many people, and where lots of specialized health activities are clustered together—as in central Oklahoma City’s fertile crescent of health care, research, and commercialization.

But what we are not amazed at is the fact that we tend to encounter more health problems as we grow older. In a recent column, George Will pointed to "two of life’s greatest fears—illness and old age." Health services to our older citizens will soon be giving a further boost to the already-growing health sector. This is a national issue. The sheer numbers are dramatic. Today we need to recast a well-worn old campaign slogan into "It’s the demography, stupid."

The numbers jump out when comparing the number of Oklahoma City MSA Baby Boomers from 2000 census aged 40 to 54 with the Depression/World War II cohort of people aged 55 to 69. The population in the younger age group (229,739) was 80 percent larger than the population in the older age group (127,426). There is virtually no uncertainty about the population trends we face. The folks around 40 in 2000 are likely to live, on average, another 40 years. Think of what that means for the demand for everything related to health!
There is expected to be another feature evolving in central Oklahoma City related to the aging of the Baby-Boomers. Many will be interested in living in smaller housing units close to cultural amenities within walking distance and relatively close to a major, diversified, medical complex. Thus the absolutely certain pattern of future demographic change will stimulate the demand for the central Oklahoma City health sector and will involve a greater propensity of older Oklahomans to live nearby.

Oklahoma City’s Health Economic Landscape

Thanks to the great leadership that built the bio science cluster at the Oklahoma Health Center, the massive investment planned by St. Anthony’s for their campus downtown, and to the potential opportunities from the vision to create an improved link of transportation and commerce between the campuses of St. Anthony Hospital and the Oklahoma Health Center, our health economy is positioned to soar. Efforts are underway to establish partnerships with other health institutions in Oklahoma City to effect an all-inclusive health services mass. The City of Oklahoma City, the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce, Urban Renewal, and Downtown Oklahoma City, Inc. are supporting this escalation of our bio cluster every step of the way.

Here is just a sampling of our central city bio cluster resources.

Oklahoma Health Center
The Health Center, a 300 acre bioscience giant, is a hub for biomedical research and academics. The Center, one of the largest employers in the state, houses organizations who have gained recognition worldwide, and who continue to excel in the areas of research, health care, technology, education and community health support.
The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, one of only four academic health centers in the nation with seven professional colleges, brings in more federal money for biomedical research than any other organization in Oklahoma. The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center spends more than $80 million annually on research and instruction.
The Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, a nonprofit biomedical research institution, is dedicated to understanding and curing human disease. The private, nonprofit Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation has an annual budget of $40 million and employs 650 people, including about 50 scientists. Researchers look for treatments for cardiovascular disease, cancer, arthritis, lupus and AIDS.

It was just announced that in 2003, scientists in the OMRF secured $23 million in research grants and contracts from the National Institute of Health. When added to the $7 million in competitive research funding from other sources, the foundation’s total grant funding is more than $30 million in 2003.

Research at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation have led to approximately 20 business startups.

The Presbyterian Health Foundation Research Park opened its first building in the mid-1990s. This new, state-of-the-art PHF is attracting firms engaged in transforming the results of biomedical research into commercially profitable products and services. Critical to this has been the base of investment provided by the private charitable foundation. It now houses 17 companies with about 1,000 employees with an annual payroll is $50 million.

Because of the Research Park’s location at the southwest edge of the Oklahoma Health Center, it promises to serve as part of a bridge of uninterrupted activity linking OHC with the downtown area. The PHF Research Park has plans for lat least l0 buildings to be constructed in the complex, raising the total research and office space to more than one million square feet.

St. Anthony Hospital
St. Anthony Hospital has been a major Oklahoma City economic cornerstone for more than 100 years. More than 800 of Oklahoma’s physicians and specialists are affiliated with St. Anthony and the hospital employs an estimated 4,000 people.

St. Anthony Hospital is in the process of developing a strategic plan for its operations over the next decade. The hospital has said it is trying to position itself in terms of medical services in Oklahoma City as a comprehensive regional hospital of excellence. Attaining this goal will involve a massive investment in new services, equipment, and structures. St. Anthony’s decision to stay at the historic hospital site on NW 10th Street will dramatically enhance our central core’s economy for decades to come. We are grateful for their decision to stay downtown.

We will continue to aggressively support our health care mega industry, to ensure continued growth in health services as well as health-related R&D and commercialization. Any image of a declining or static central core has been dispelled and it is being replaced as Oklahoma City is the Bio place to be.

Brenda Workmam is the director of central city development for the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce.