Beginning from discussions among the alumni of the University of Oklahoma Medical School in 1944, several doctors began to develop the idea of an independent research organization adjacent to - but separate from - the medical school. Led by Dr. Mark R. Everett, a Harvard Medical School grad who rose from professor to become dean of the OU Medical School in 1947, they agreed on August 3, 1946 to incorporate as the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF), a private, nonprofit, independent research institution in Oklahoma City. In April 1947 Oklahoma’s Governor, Roy J. Turner became general chair of a statewide fund drive for OMRF that spanned all 77 of Oklahoma’s counties. By May 1949, 7,000 Oklahomans had donated and pledged $2.35 million, and construction of OMRF began.