Oklahoma Blood Institute began operations on January 1, 1977 as an Oklahoma response to an Oklahoma need. At that time, surgeries were routinely cancelled because there was not enough blood to even begin to meet patient needs.  

Beyond ensuring blood availability, OBI was created to lead - in providing safe blood products, medical services, education and blood-related research. It is an organization that safeguards the health of patients and also assists its donors in maintaining their own good health.

A major turning point for the fledgling blood center came in 1979, when Ronald O. Gilcher, M.D., F.A.C.P., took over leadership as its President, CEO and Medical Director. Nationally recognized for his experience in transfusion medicine and innovation in blood banking, Dr. Gilcher helped transform OBI into one of the nation's most highly acclaimed blood centers.

Dr. Gilcher officially retired on December 31, 2006. However, under his leadership, OBI has achieved and surpassed all its goals. OBI has become a leader in apheresis blood product collection, which allows donors to give full transfusable units of platelets and plasma to help cancer patients, burn victims and individuals with blood disorders.

When Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) became a safety concern of the blood supply in 1985, OBI helped develop the original HIV Antigen test that was eventually used throughout the United States.  

OBI was also the first to implement Individual Donor Nucleic Acid Testing (NAT) for HIV and the West Nile Virus, the first to perform free cholesterol testing as a donor benefit, the first to offer prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood testing to men for prostate cancer screening, and the first to provide hepatitis B antibody testing.  

Time and again, OBI's commitment to safety, quality and availability has enabled the organization to deliver in the face of disaster. OBI successfully met the unanticipated challenges of blood needs presented by the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, a devastating F-5 tornado on May 3, 1999, and the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Centers, whereby OBI was the first blood center to send tested blood to New York via military and Angel Flight planes.

OBI first opened with two locations - the main facility in Oklahoma City and a donor center in Lawton - serving 35 hospitals and collecting 22,000 blood donations.

Today, OBI is the seventh largest non-profit regional blood center in America. It projects a need for 220,000 units of blood a year and provides the blood supply for patients in more than 100 hospitals across Oklahoma and North Texas with the help of more than 660 employees, 800 volunteers, and more than 2,400 committed donor groups. In addition to its headquarters and laboratories, OBI maintains four donor centers in the Oklahoma City area with regional centers in Tulsa, Lawton, Enid, Ardmore, Ada and Ponca City.  

OBI continues to meet the demands of the present and looks to the challenges of maintaining the blood supply in the coming decades. Under the direction of John Armitage, M.D., who assumed leadership of OBI as President and CEO on January 01, 2007, OBI is well positioned to continue its rich tradition of excellence far into the future.