Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Inc. history

The 30-bed hospital and laboratory were completed in 1950, and the first patients accepted by the division were those afflicted with diseases for which there was already an established backlog of experience in the therapeutic use of radioisotopes.

Through the Teletherapy Evaluation Program established in 1952, researchers developed a rotational teletherapy unit.

ORINS would remain the name of this organization until 1966 when the Board of Directors decided to rename the institution “Oak Ridge Associated Universities” to better reflect the role that the member universities played with this growing organization.

The Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training Site (REAC/TS) began operations in July 1976, and is located in the Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge.

Doctor Fred Snyder (right) and Merle Blank were part of an ORAU research team that discovered the structure of the platelet-activating factor (PAF) in 1979.

The Science and Mathematics Action for Revitalizing Teaching (SMART), a series of week-long summer workshops for teachers of grades K-8, kicked off in 1989.

In 1992, DOE consolidated many of these legacy programs into what became known as ORISE. DOE selected ORAU to manage the initial ORISE contract and ORAU is honored to have continuously served DOE and the DOE national laboratory system in this capacity for more than 30 years.

More than 15,000 former energy workers received medical screenings through DOE’s National Supplemental Screening Program since the program’s inception in 2005.

ORISE was named a 2008 Legacy of Stars site.