Hall of Fame Member Biographies

Ronald H. White

The leader in the diagnosis and treatment of heart disease is Dr. Ronald H. White, who is the acknowledged authority of cardiology in the State of Oklahoma and one of the foremost authorities in the nation. He has as well been an untiring advocate for higher education in his roles as a Regent for the University of Oklahoma and as a member of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education. A graduate of Seminole High School, Dr. White earned a B.S. and then his M.D from the University of Oklahoma. He interned at St. Anthony Hospital and then became a Fellow in Cardiology in 1970.

Following his residency, he served his nation as a doctor in the U.S. Navy in Da Nang, Vietnam, and at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. He completed a fellowship in cardiology at the OU Health Sciences Center and entered private practice in Oklahoma City, specializing in diagnostic and interventional cardiology. As he developed his practice, Dr. White emphasized careful attention to patients' concerns and symptoms, conducting clinical research, and developing innovative avenues to the prevention and treatment of heart disease. He was the first physician in Oklahoma to perform balloon angioplasty. Dr. White served as Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at lntegris Baptist Medical Center, was President of the Oklahoma Heart Center (for 16 years), became the Director of the Oklahoma Medical Society and the Oklahoma Foundation for Cardiovascular Research. Dr. White was a co-founder of the Oklahoma Heart Hospital and Oklahoma Cardiovascular Associates, the state's largest cardiovascular physician group with 80 doctors and with satellite clinics in 60 locations. He has undertaken and published 52 clinical investigations. Of prime importance to the heart health of Oklahomans is education among the people and a well-trained corps of physicians to treat illnesses. Contemporaneously with his remarkable medical career, Dr. White has been a visionary state leader for higher education. He served 14 years as an OU Regent, including three terms as chairman. As an OU Regent, Dr. White pushed for the creation of centers of excellence and the elimination of duplicate programs. In 2003 he was appointed to the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education and served as its Chairman 2008-2009. He is currently in his second nine-year term as an Oklahoma State Regent. He was a driving force in obtaining from the state legislature a $475 million capital bond issue for higher education building projects on all 25 public college and university campuses. He was a trustee for the OU Foundation, a board member of the Bizzell Library Society, a clinical assistant professor of medicine, a director of the Oklahoma Foundation for Cardiovascular Research and a member of the Governor's Council for the OU Health Sciences Center. He also served on the board of directors of Oklahoma Gas and Electric and Oklahoma Heritage Association. He was a member of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation Commission and a trustee of the Oklahoma Zoological Society and Westminster Day School. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 2012 and he currently is a member of the OU College of Medicine Public Advisory Board and the Jasmine Moran Children's Museum. He also serves as an active member of the State Regents' Online Education Task Force (established in 2012) for reviewing the quality of online instruction at Oklahoma's higher education institutions. It is with heartfelt gratitude, therefore, that the OHEHS inducts Dr. Ronald H. White into the 2016 Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame.