Anthony Effinger

2 weeks ago | wweek.com | Anthony Effinger

The director of Oregon Health & Science University’s $1 billion Knight Cancer Institute resigned this week after just one year on the job, leaving OHSU with yet another interim leader in a key role. Dr. Tom Sellers joined the cancer institute in February 2023 as lead research officer. He became director in March 2024, when Dr. Brian Druker took a newly created position as chief executive officer, where he could focus on long-term vision, strategic planning and fundraising, OHSU said at the time.

2 weeks ago | wweek.com | Anthony Effinger

Multnomah County will take another step into the modern world of government on Thursday when two commissioners present the first reading of a new ordinance that would require lobbyists to register and commissioners to post their calendars on the internet. Those changes and others are intended to bring the county into line with the city of Portland and Metro, the tri-county regional government, both of which have lobbying rules that go above and beyond state ethics rules that regulate conduct.

2 weeks ago | wweek.com | Anthony Effinger

Animal rights activists aiming to force the closure of the Oregon National Primate Research Center wrote to the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency this week urging it to cut funding for the facility because it conducts “wasteful, duplicative, and unethical experiments on nonhuman primates.” The center got $56 million of its $63 million budget last fiscal year from the National Institutes for Health. DOGE is already in federal court fighting to slash millions from from NIH grants nationwide.

2 weeks ago | wweek.com | Anthony Effinger

A community review board convened by the Oregon Health Authority to review Oregon Health & Science University’s proposed acquisition of Legacy Health voted unanimously to reject the transaction. The board’s decision isn’t binding on OHA’s Health Care Marketplace Oversight program. Rather, it will be one input among many as HCMO determines whether the transaction can go forward. Five of the original nine members of the review board joined a Zoom call for the vote today.

2 weeks ago | wweek.com | Anthony Effinger

The executive director of one of Oregon’s largest unions says Gov. Tina Kotek caught him and other labor leaders by surprise when she called for the eventual closure of the Oregon National Primate Research Center. The Beaverton facility, run by Oregon Health & Science University, employs 408 people. About 170 of them are members of the Oregon chapter of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees.