Now for the good news: As a result of the recent integration of Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) into Old Dominion University and our critically important partnership with Sentara Health, Hampton Roads is uniquely situated to face this challenge.

A few years ago, discussions began in earnest about integrating EVMS into ODU. This was neither an easy undertaking nor a new idea. This time, however, our partners — including the governor, the Virginia General Assembly, Sentara Health and community leaders — aligned behind the efforts. In early June, these groups gathered to celebrate the culmination of nearly three years of hard work. On July 1, Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University was established, thereby creating the most complex and largest academic health sciences center in the commonwealth.

A key goal of our new academic health sciences center and partnership with Sentara is creating a robust and expanded health care workforce pipeline. Expanding medical residency and fellowship programs for physician training is a cornerstone strategy for our shared work, but expansion of these critical programs is a complex challenge due to the considerable amount of required resources. Fortunately, Sentara’s strong commitment and extensive support are helping to alleviate this issue.

Over the past 20 years, Sentara has invested substantially in our graduate medical programs nearly doubling the training positions it funds. In the 2005-06 academic year, Sentara funded 125.5 full-time equivalency residency/fellowship positions (FTEs). In 2013-14, that funding increased to 156 FTEs and for 2024-25 that funding supports 240 FTEs. Moving forward, we continue to work closely with Sentara to expand the number of residency programs we provide, specifically targeting areas of acute physician shortage and community need. In the near term, physician shortages and care gaps in areas such as anesthesiology, neurology, cardiology, rheumatology, internal medicine and rural-track primary care/family medicine are expected to be addressed through the creation and expansion of residency programs.

In addition to our collaborative efforts to enhance residency training and provide the physician workforce for the region, the merger of EVMS into ODU will result in expanded and new training programs to help address other health care workforce needs as well through our Ellmer College of Health Sciences, Ellmer School of Nursing and EVMS School of Health Professions.

Sentara’s support plays a critical role in all of these endeavors and more. In addition to residency/fellowship training, its steadfast support allows us to expand and maintain required training sites for our medical, physician assistant, surgical assistant and nurse practitioner students, as well as others. It provides needed support for research activities necessary to train the future health care workforce and it enhances our ability to recruit leadership and clinical providers to the area.

Simply put, the current and future success of Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University could not be accomplished without our one-of-a-kind partnership with Sentara Health, which includes a commitment of $350 million over the next 10 years to support our ability to address the health care workforce needs of Hampton Roads.

Finally, we would be remiss not to mention that recruiting the best and brightest to the region just became easier thanks to our generous community leaders. Joan Brock’s gift of $20 million provides scholarships for medical students planning to stay in Virginia after residencies or fellowships. Similarly, Dennis and Jan Ellmer gave $20 million to support scholarships for students pursuing health degrees and planning to stay in Hampton Roads. These gifts, coupled with support from Sentara, are essential to our long-term success.

While challenges lie ahead, we are fully committed to put all resources to help address them. Our bold and promising future is amplified if we collectively work together and align our resources to provide a larger health care workforce and to help address the health equity in our communities.

Alfred Abuhamad, M.D., is executive vice president of Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University and dean of Eastern Virginia Medical School. Brian O. Hemphill, Ph.D., is president of Old Dominion University.

One of the most frequent and deadly complications of pregnancy is preeclampsia, affecting about 5-7% of pregnant women and killing 70,000 of them worldwide each year, a disproportionate number of them Black.  In addition, this complication is responsible for 500,000 fetal deaths worldwide each year.

At EVMS, our research teams are conducting groundbreaking research under a series of grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and in collaboration with the University of Maryland. The research holds promise for significantly reducing the toll preeclampsia takes among women and their children. This research requires the use of animals, for which there is no adequate substitute.

Through years of research, we have learned that abnormal changes in placental development in the first weeks of pregnancy result in the development of preeclampsia towards the end of pregnancy. The process of the development of the placenta and the fetus from early pregnancy is almost identical in humans and baboons, thus making this model highly suitable for the research we are conducting to learn more about how the placenta and the disease develop during pregnancy.

This vital research has recently come under unfair attack from activists who have mischaracterized our research and have misstated facts about how we care for our animals.

At EVMS, our animals are treated with the utmost reverence and care. An on-site veterinarian, along with care staff, provide comprehensive care for the baboons and daily enrichment activities to enhance their well-being and allow them to engage in species-typical behaviors.

NIH funding itself is conditioned on an ethical study design, and our work is continually monitored by EVMS committees, reviewed by external national expert-consultants and regularly inspected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. EVMS’ animal facility has been continually accredited and approved by the American Association for Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care, a voluntary accreditation, for more than 20 years.

The NIH-approved research design requires that some of the pregnant baboons give birth via c-section. Over the past 10 years, the average number of c-sections performed on our baboons was 2.7, with a median of 2, over an average stay at EVMS of close to 10 years. We follow federal guidelines for the performance of major surgeries on animals, including c-sections. Any major procedure requires written justification by the research team and committee approval.

EVMS has also been unfairly accused of denying our animals the opportunity to live in a “sanctuary” after their involvement in research concludes. Unfortunately, critical data from this research can only be obtained after the animal is humanely euthanized.

My colleagues and I hope that the time will come when enough is learned so that the vital research being conducted is no longer necessary, so that the millions of families who are affected by preeclampsia can be spared the hardship and heartache that often accompany it. Until that time arrives, we are committed to participating in this crucial research, part of a larger effort to close the “women’s health gap,” a worldwide disparity that results in part from under-investment in research on diseases that affect women or affect women differently from men.

We at EVMS understand and share the love for animals that animates our critics. But our first-hand experience in treating the women and babies suffering from preeclampsia compels us to make their health the top priority. For us, there is no choice: This vital research must continue.

Alfred Abuhamad, M.D., is president, provost and dean of the EVMS School of Medicine. He is a physician-scientist-educator who is recognized internationally for his expertise and leadership in maternal-fetal medicine, ultrasound, prenatal diagnosis, global outreach and patient safety. Dr. Abuhamad came to EVMS in 1992 and is the Mason C. Andrews Chair in Obstetrics and Gynecology and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Radiology.