Dr. Terry Douglas : Provision Foundation

On March 15th my classmates and I visited Dr Terry Douglas at his company, Provision Foundation, in Oak Ridge. Dr. Douglas was one of the founders of CTI, a company I have mentioned before where Joe Matteo also worked. CTI was a medical imaging company that developed PET scanners along with several other imaging technologies. CTI was acquired by SIEMENS for around $1Billion, leaving its founding members with substantial resources for their next adventures. Dr. Douglas began putting shares of CTI stock into a foundation in the late 1980's when the stock wasn't really worth anything. By the time SIEMENS bought the company and Dr. Douglas was free to do what he wanted the foundation had substantial resources which could be used to help people around the world. This was probably the most interesting visit we have made thus far, Dr. Douglas now spends his time and his money trying to make the world a better place. Provision Foundation provided the initial funding for Invisible Children, a grassroots movement to raise awareness about children in Uganda and Sudan who are stolen from their families and forced into becoming soldiers. Provision foundation has been working with local organizations and churches in Haiti for some years and recently when the earthquake struck team members from provision were on the ground within a few days to help out. Provision currently has a rotation program in Haiti, where volunteers will go stay for a few weeks and then be replaced by other volunteers. Provision is also in the healthcare business as part of its for profit division. The foundation is helping in the development of the East Tennessee Health Care Center which will house a state of the art imaging center. The Center will house a world class comprehensive cancer center, a proton therapy center where the most advanced form of cancer treatments will be administered. Provisions role in the development is to provide the start up capital and support, in return they will retain a minority share of ownership. Dr. Terry Douglas is getting older in age but he is still young at heart. When asked by a student about retirement he answered, "I want to die with my boots on".