Collaboration will drive the creation of a smarter and more resilient nursing environment; upgrade cloud and data infrastructure; apply AI in a responsible manner to support clinicians and researchers; and expand access to AI capabilities and certifications.
Columbus, Ohio, and Redmond, Washington, November 10, 2026 / PRNewswire / -- The Ohio State University and Microsoft announced on Tuesday the establishment of a five-year strategic partnership. This collaboration will combine the leadership of The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in healthcare, research, and education with Microsoft’s artificial intelligence and cloud technologies to enhance patient care, accelerate scientific discoveries, support the healthcare workforce, and expand opportunities for students and communities throughout Ohio.
Both parties stated that Microsoft and the Wexner Medical Center at The Ohio State University are jointly developing an intelligent hospital model. They are upgrading clinical and research applications as well as workloads through cloud technology, building a more unified data foundation, and utilizing AI to support nursing teams. Over the next five years, as medical practices, technologies, and patient needs evolve, The Ohio State University and Microsoft will continue to identify and pursue new opportunities for collaboration.
"Artificial intelligence represents one of the most significant opportunities to change and improve the way hospitals care for patients," said John J, CEO of Wexner Medical Center at The Ohio State University and Executive Vice President of The Ohio State University, as well as a Doctor of Medicine. "Through this collaboration, we have the opportunity to combine the academic medical expertise of The Ohio State University with Microsoft's technical capabilities, while helping to reimagine the future of healthcare and accelerate innovation in patient care, research, and education."
Microsoft's Vice President for State and Local Government and Education in the United States, Hether Danforth, stated: "The Ohio State University is demonstrating what it means to purposefully advance healthcare modernization – by connecting cloud, data, and AI to empower those who care for patients and drive scientific research discoveries. We are working together to build a reliable foundation, and leveraging the institutional context of The Ohio State University to promote AI-driven innovation. This foundation will allow clinicians to spend more time with patients, help researchers accelerate their findings, and transform promising ideas into tangible progress in the field of care."
This collaboration will focus on four interrelated areas:
- Jointly develop the intelligent hospitals of the future.
The Wexner Medical Center at The Ohio State University and Microsoft will advance an intelligent hospital model aimed at connecting facilities, operational systems, and clinical support systems, enabling technology to make the nursing environment more adaptable, efficient, and responsive. This intelligent hospital platform has already been put into use at the Richard M Ross Heart Hospital and the James outpatient care facility. According to the announcement, initial efforts are focused on improving energy efficiency and resource utilization, while establishing a common technical foundation driven by Microsoft Azure and Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities. The Wexner Medical Center at The Ohio State University plans to extend these capabilities to more medical facilities to help teams better understand operational conditions, use resources responsibly, and respond more quickly to changing needs. This work will also provide a reference for the new university hospital’s operational approach and establish a reusable foundation for continuous innovation throughout the healthcare system.
- Upgrading clinical and research workloads through cloud technology
By migrating critical clinical and research workloads to Microsoft Azure, Wexner Medical Center at The Ohio State University aims to create a more simplified, secure, and resilient technical environment that supports continuity of care and enables faster innovation. According to the announcement, the goal of this collaboration is to migrate approximately 70% to 80% of The Ohio State University's storage and computing resources to Azure, including digital pathology and imaging workloads. Wexner Medical Center is also migrating its electronic health records to Azure as a backup for business continuity. These measures will help care teams maintain access to critical systems, reduce infrastructure complexity, and allow technical teams to devote more time to improving care, advancing research, and delivering results, according to the announcement.
- Build a unified and credible data foundation for nursing, research, and education
The Wexner Medical Center at The Ohio State University is utilizing Microsoft Fabric and OneLake to create a unified next-generation data foundation that connects clinical, operational, and research data across its medical centers, colleges, and regional campuses. According to the announcement, the high-level design of the platform has been completed, and early opportunities include predicting surgical needs, staffing requirements, and operating room usage in order to better match capacity with patient demands. The secure research environment on Azure also provides researchers with governed access to appropriate, anonymized data while protecting privacy. The announcement states that by reducing fragmentation and repetitive practices, this foundation can help authorized teams gain credible insights more quickly, improve collaboration between different care scenarios, and give researchers more time to advance discoveries that may lead to more personalized treatments.
- Application AI supports clinicians, nursing teams, and researchers
The Wexner Medical Center at The Ohio State University and Microsoft are deploying AI capabilities aimed at reducing administrative burdens, supporting collaboration, and giving clinicians more time to listen, make decisions, and provide care, while placing clinical judgment, human supervision, and patient-doctor relationships at the center. According to the announcement, clinicians are using the environment-aware capabilities of Dragon Copilot to securely draft clinical records based on patient visits for review and finalization by other clinicians. Both parties are also exploring work processes for tumor committees supported by AI, which may integrate pathology, imaging, genomics, and clinical history into a more coordinated view to help multidisciplinary teams collaborate across locations, discuss complex cases, and more efficiently advance patients through care plans.
Build a workforce adapted to the era of AI and strengthen Ohio's talent reserve.
Microsoft and The Ohio State University will also collaborate to expand learning opportunities, resources, and certification opportunities for healthcare professionals, researchers, teachers, staff, and students. According to the announcement, these programs will help people develop the skills necessary to use new capabilities responsibly and apply them in healthcare, research, education, and other fields.
As The Ohio State University becomes a Microsoft training service provider, it will have the opportunity to expand access to Microsoft training and certification for students, employees, and community members. According to the announcement, this collaboration is aimed at establishing career pathways for in-demand positions, strengthening Ohio's talent pool, and advancing The Ohio State University's goal of becoming a leader in AI literacy, in order to accelerate research, promote education, and improve lives.
Both parties stated that the goal of The Ohio State University and Microsoft is to establish a secure, scalable foundation that can evolve with advancements in healthcare and technology. This collaboration will build upon existing efforts to improve the experience for patients and clinicians, accelerate scientific research discoveries, enhance workforce readiness, and demonstrate how cloud computing, data, and responsible AI can advance the mission of academic healthcare systems.
About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq ticker: MSFT) develops platforms and tools driven by AI to provide innovative solutions that meet the ever-changing needs of customers worldwide. This technology company is committed to providing a wide range of AI and advances this goal in a responsible manner, with its mission being to empower every individual and organization on Earth to achieve more.
About Wexner Medical Center at The Ohio State University
As one of the leading academic medical centers in the United States, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center provides medical services in nearly every specialty and subspecialty of medicine. The center is at the core of one of the most comprehensive health science campuses in North America and ranks among the top in U.S. News & World Report’s rankings. With 24,000 doctors, scientists, and staff, the medical center is committed to providing world-class care to every patient; improving lives through continuous innovation; and making this place the best workplace and learning environment.
