University of Pittsburgh trustees on Thursday approved the creation of a $50 million center for musculoskeletal research. It is an ambitious scientific and therapeutic effort supported by tens of millions of dollars donated by the founders of Hillandale Farms in Greensburg.
A unanimous vote of the Board of Directors gave the go-ahead for renovations to the 16th floor of the Thomas E. Starzl Biomedical Sciences Tower on Pitt’s main Oakland campus.
The study will serve as a hub for research and applications aimed at better treating osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, and other painful conditions that afflict millions of Americans.
Orlando Bethel, 88, and the family foundation that bears his name initially donated $25 million last year. Pitt matched it for another $25 million.
To ensure the center’s sustainability and ability to make outstanding contributions to health care, the Family Foundation is investing an additional $18.5 million this month to house biological specimens within the Orlando Bethel Family Musculoskeletal Research Center (BMRC). A repository has been established.
This repository, or biobank, is believed to be the only orthopedic-based biobank in the Western Hemisphere.
“On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to express our sincere gratitude to the Orlando Bethel Family Foundation for this transformative gift,” Pitt Trustee Chairman John Barbanack said shortly after the vote. “This has been a significant investment and I cannot thank my family enough.”
Part of the tower’s 16th floor will be renovated until 2026, allowing the new center to move into its permanent home. The newly formed venture began hiring staff and consolidated laboratory space at a temporary campus location.
Bethel, as a patient, knows that the pit is where he regained his mobility. He was diagnosed with spinal stenosis in 2014 and suffered from severe lower back and lower back pain due to narrowing and compression of the nerves and spinal cord.
After several surgeries to address spinal stenosis and scoliosis, Bethel has regained his mobility and is even playing golf, he told TribLive.
Bethel was CEO of Hillandale Farms, a national egg supplier based in Gettysburg. Hillandale is headquartered in Hempfield, with a distribution center in Plumb, and operates across Pennsylvania, Ohio and Connecticut.
Also at Thursday’s board meeting, Chancellor Joan Gabel presented an annual report to the board, which will be working on the newly opened off-campus biomedical research hub, The Assembly, at 5051 Center Ave. It was opened. Pitt and Wexford Science + Technology developed the eight-storey site.
Professor Gabel detailed the university’s progress toward the university’s five-year plan for Pitt 2028. It touched on efforts to reduce student debt, analyze and benchmark administrative costs, and maintain academic and financial momentum. He pointed out that the number of first-year applicants this year was 60,892, exceeding last year’s 58,415 applicants and setting a new record high.
Bill Schackner is a TribLive reporter covering higher education. Raised in New England, he joined the Trib in 2022 after 29 years at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as part of the Pulitzer Prize-winning team. So far, he has written for newspapers in Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. He can be reached at bschackner@triblive.com.
