WASHINGTON and OKLAHOMA CITY, December 26, 2006 – The United States Senate has confirmed Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation President Stephen Prescott, M.D., to serve on the board of trustees for the Morris K. Udall Scholarship and Excellence in National Environmental Policy Foundation.

Established by Congress in 1992, the Udall Foundation is supported by income from a trust fund in the U.S. Treasury and is committed to educating a new generation of Americans to preserve and protect their national heritage through studies in the environment, Native American health and tribal policy. The foundation is named in honor of former U.S. Representative Morris K. Udall of Arizona.

President George W. Bush nominated Prescott to the board of the Udall Foundation in July, and Prescott’s term will run through April 15, 2011.

Prescott is an internationally recognized leader in the studies of the basic mechanisms of human disease. Prior to becoming president of OMRF in May 2006, he served as executive director of the university’s Huntsman Cancer Institute.

He received his undergraduate degree at Texas A&M University and his M.D. from the Baylor College of Medicine. He is the founder and CEO of LineaGen, a nonprofit biotechnology company, and has authored more than 250 scientific articles. Among the awards he has received are the Utah Governor’s Medal for Science and Technology, the Sol Sherry Prize from the American Heart Association, and the Houssay-Braun-Menendez Medal from the Argentine Association for the Advancement of Science.

About OMRF:
Celebrating its 60th birthday in 2006, OMRF (www.omrf.org) is a nonprofit biomedical research institute dedicated to understanding and curing human disease. Its scientists focus on such critical research areas as Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, lupus and cardiovascular disease. It is home to Oklahoma’s only member of the National Academy of Sciences.