As merger unraveled, campaign against OHSU’s primate research center competed for leaders’ attention, emails show

As Oregon Health & Science University pursued a high-profile merger with Legacy Health, a long-simmering controversy over its primate research center surged to the forefront.

Two national animal rights groups — the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA — seized on the merger review process this spring, launching an aggressive campaign to close the Oregon National Primate Research Center in Hillsboro.

The groups blanketed Oregon airwaves with television ads, pressed regulators to tie closure of the center to merger approval and packed public hearings convened by an advisory board appointed by the state’s unique regulatory board that oversees health care mergers and acquisitions.

Their efforts rattled OHSU’s leadership, inte