In 1987, construction was completed on the Vollum Institute for Advanced Biomedical Research in Portland. The institute is dedicated to the study of the brain and nervous system at the molecular level. OHSU is designated one of two Level 1 trauma care centers in Oregon.

The Vollum Institute houses world renowned experts in all areas of neuroscience — from the molecular structure of single molecules that allow neurons to talk to each other, to mechanisms by which complex neural circuits mediate behavioral output, to understanding why neurons fall apart in neurodegenerative disease.

Howard Vollum was an American electronics engineer, and businessman, and with his wife Jean were well known philanthropists in Oregon.