The OHSU primate center will not be converted into a sanctuary after the Oregon Health & Science University Board of Directors unanimously approved a different plan for the facility’s future.
Instead, OHSU will seek to transform the Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC) into a national leader in New Approach Methodologies, or NAMs, while substantially reducing the approximately 5,000 primates held there.
The decision falls short of the complete sanctuary transition advocated for by NAVS and other animal protection organizations. Still, the resolution represents a significant board-level commitment to shrink the primate population, limit breeding, end the facility’s role as a national supplier of monkeys, and shift institutional resources toward modern, human-relevant research.
OHSU Replaces the Proposed Sanctuary Conversion
Earlier this year, OHSU entered discussions with the National Institutes of Health to explore converting the OHSU primate center into a sanctuary. That proposal offered the possibility of ending experiments at the facility and providing the primates with lifelong care.
The resolution adopted by the OHSU Board on July 27 replaces that proposal with a different path.
OHSU leadership must now develop a comprehensive plan to make ONPRC a national leader in the development, validation, and implementation of NAMs. These approaches include human-based experimental models, computational biology, artificial intelligence, organs-on-chips, advanced imaging, and biofabrication.
The plan must also establish a timeline for substantially reducing the primate colony. According to the resolution, that reduction could include limiting breeding and transferring monkeys to accredited sanctuaries.
OHSU will also stop serving as a national supplier of primates to research institutions across the country. Maintaining historic levels of genetic diversity within the breeding colony will no longer be a primary institutional objective.
A Potential Break From the National Primate Research Network
The resolution acknowledges that the transition could result in ONPRC losing its federal designation as a National Primate Research Center.
ONPRC has operated within the federally supported primate research system since the 1960s. Leaving that network would represent a significant structural change and further distinguish the facility from its historic role as both a breeding center and a source of primates for experiments nationwide.
The board also supports renaming ONPRC to reflect its intended transition into a center of excellence for NAM development and validation.
Together, these commitments signal that OHSU recognizes the growing importance of non-animal, human-relevant research and the need to reduce its dependence on primates.
Primate Experiments Will Continue
Despite these changes, the OHSU primate center will continue conducting experiments on monkeys.
The resolution directs OHSU to identify primate research that it considers unique to ONPRC and not sufficiently available or scientifically feasible at other national primate research centers. The university would retain enough monkeys to support those experiments and research related to the development and validation of NAMs.
This exception is deeply concerning.
Without transparent criteria, measurable reduction targets, and a firm timeline, claims that certain primate experiments remain irreplaceable could allow animal use to continue indefinitely. Human-relevant methods should not be treated simply as additions to an animal-based system. They must be developed and implemented with the clear goal of replacing animal experiments.
OHSU Must Turn Its Commitment Into Measurable Action
NAVS is disappointed that OHSU has abandoned the proposed sanctuary conversion, particularly for the thousands of primates who remain at the facility.
At the same time, a unanimous board commitment to substantially reduce the primate population and reposition the institution around NAMs is meaningful. A major research institution has formally recognized that its primate colony should shrink, that breeding and distribution should be curtailed, and that its scientific identity should increasingly focus on non-animal research.
What happens next will determine whether the resolution produces lasting change.
OHSU’s implementation plan should include:
- A clear and public timeline for reducing the primate population
- Measurable targets for limiting and ultimately ending breeding
- Transparent criteria for determining which experiments OHSU considers irreplaceable
- Significant and sustained investment in human-relevant research
- Detailed plans and funding for transferring eligible primates to accredited sanctuaries
- Regular public reporting on primate numbers, experiments, births, deaths, retirements, and sanctuary transfers
- A defined path toward ending primate experimentation entirely
The shift toward non-animal methods reflects a broader transformation already underway in biomedical research. Scientists, policymakers, and federal agencies increasingly recognize the need for research models that more accurately reflect human biology while eliminating harm to animals.
NAVS will continue advocating for every primate at ONPRC to be removed from research and given the opportunity to live in sanctuary. We will also closely follow OHSU’s planning process and press the university to turn its commitments into transparent, measurable action.
This resolution establishes a new direction for the OHSU primate center. Now OHSU must demonstrate how far, and how quickly, it is prepared to follow it.
