Nike co-founder Phil Knight and his wife Penny have committed $2 billion for the cancer institute at the Oregon Health and Science University. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
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Nike co-founder Phil Knight and his wife Penny have committed a $2 billion gift to the Oregon Health & Science University’s Knight Cancer Institute. The donation is the largest ever made to a U.S. university, eclipsing the $1.8 billion given by Michael Bloomberg to Johns Hopkins University in 2018.
The gift to OHSU will be overseen by Dr. Brian Druker, a well-known cancer researcher who directs the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute. Druker was the lead developer of Gleevec, a drug that transformed the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia.
“Penny and Phil Knight have always challenged us to do what no one else is doing,” Dr. Druker said in the university’s release. “It can seem impossible to navigate the health care system after being diagnosed with cancer. We’re going to change that. We have revolutionized the way we detect and treat cancer. Now we are going to transform the way we care for patients while continuing to develop innovative treatments.”
The gift is intended to help Druker develop a fully integrated cancer care model with accelerated diagnostics, better access to clinical trials and a seamless treatment experience for patients and families. “Every patient will have access to a full range of much-needed support resources, including nutritional support; psychological, genetic and financial counseling; symptom management; survivorship care and support; and other complementary therapies,” said the release.
With the new investment, the Knight Cancer Institute will transition to a self-governed unit within OHSU. The Knight Cancer Group will be created to lead the Knight Cancer Institute and manage OHSU’s cancer services. It will be overseen by its own board of directors, with Druker serving as its inaugural president.
“This gift is an unprecedented investment in the millions of lives burdened with cancer, especially patients and families here in Oregon,” said OHSU President Shereef Elnahal. “It is also a signal of trust in the superlative work that our clinicians, researchers and teammates at the Knight Cancer Institute do every day. Dr. Druker’s vision around a multidisciplinary system of care — focused squarely on making the patient’s experience seamless from the moment they receive a diagnosis — will now become reality. And thanks to the extraordinary generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Knight, Oregon will be the place to do it.”
The Knights had previously pledged a $500 million donation to the Knight Cancer Institute in 2013, challenging the university to match it within two years. The ensuing $1 billion Knight Cancer Challenge was successful, allowing the Knight Cancer Institute to develop new cancer therapies and become a leader in precision medicine.
Phil Knight is a 1959 graduate of the University of Oregon, where he was a member of the track and field team. He later earned his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. In 1964, he started Blue Ribbon Sports, Nike’s forerunner, with Bill Bowerman, his former track coach. He retired as Nike’s chairman in 2016.
Known for their generous philanthropy, Knight and his wife have donated hundreds of millions of dollars to both the University of Oregon and Stanford University, in addition to his gifts to OHSU. Forbes has pegged his wealth at $34.1 billion.
“We are grateful for the opportunity to invest in the next stage of the Druker-led revolutionary vision of cancer research, diagnosis, treatment, care, and some day, eradication,” Phil and Penny Knight said in a statement to CNBC. “We couldn’t be more excited about the transformational potential of this work for humanity.”