University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center named best place to work by The Scientist magazine

The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center was named a "best place to work” by readers of The Scientist magazine.

The center ranked No. 4 among the top 15 U.S. academic institutions in the readers’ list.

The Oklahoma City campus was commended for pay, tenure and promotion, and the report notes that the center is building research centers such as the OU Cancer Institute.

"Through smart financial planning, generous private funding, hospital revenue and the state’s tobacco tax, the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center has resources to expand despite a tight economy,” the report states.

Dr. Joseph Ferretti, senior vice president and provost, said the center has recruited top faculty and scientists from around the world and increased National Institutes for Health funding by $15 million this year.

"We are really, really pleased with this award,” Ferretti said. "It puts us right in the middle of the elite schools. It certainly is a reflection of what the faculty thinks.”

The top three academic institutions were Princeton, the University of California at San Francisco and Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.

Edyta Zielinska, the magazine’s associate editor, said, "In this less-than-rosy economy, academic scientists valued the promise of stable growth opportunities and collaborative work environments. We’re proud to give working academic scientists a chance to evaluate their institutions on the factors they think are most important.”

The report is in the November issue.