Phil Knight, the co-founder of Nike, is donating $2 billion to a most cancers analysis middle on the Oregon Well being & Science College (OHSU) in what the establishment has dubbed because the largest-ever reward to a U.S. college, school or tutorial well being middle. The donation from Knight and his spouse, Penny, will help the college’s Knight Most cancers Institute and continues the couple’s lengthy observe document of backing most cancers analysis.
“We couldn’t be extra excited in regards to the transformational potential of this work for humanity,” mentioned the Knights in a press release. Their donation will concentrate on aiding “most cancers analysis, prognosis, therapy, care, and a few day, eradication,” they added.
Due to the magnitude of the donation, the Knight Most cancers Institute will now change into a self-governed entity inside OHSU, overseen by the newly created Knight Most cancers Group. Main the group is Brian Druker, a physician-scientist who chairs OHSU’s leukemia analysis and was the lead developer of Gleevek, a groundbreaking precision most cancers drug. With the Knights’ backing, the establishment plans to speed up diagnostics, develop entry to medical trails and supply sufferers with a variety of sources, from counseling to symptom administration and survivorship care.
“We revolutionized the best way we detect and deal with most cancers,” mentioned Druker in a press release. “Now we’re going to rework the best way we take care of sufferers whereas persevering with to develop revolutionary remedies.”
Phil Knight’s storied philanthropic legacy
Knight, 87, grew up in Portland, Ore., and based Nike in 1964 together with his former College of Oregon observe coach, Invoice Bowerman. He led the corporate for many years, stepping down as CEO in 2004 and retired as chairman practically a decade later.
With an estimated internet price of $35.9 billion, Knight and his spouse have change into amongst America’s most distinguished philanthropists. In 2024 alone, they donated $370.4 million, rating because the nation’s tenth most beneficiant donors.
A lot of their presents have centered on Oregon establishments. In 2008, the couple gave $100 million to the Knight Most cancers Institute, adopted by a 2013 pledge of $500 million contingent on OHSU elevating matching funds inside two years—a problem the college met. That funding established one of many first large-scale early most cancers detection packages.
The Knights’ philanthropy has prolonged past well being care. In 2023, they donated $400 million to the 1803 Fund to assist revitalize Portland’s traditionally Black Albina neighborhood. They’ve additionally given closely to increased training: two $500 million presents to the College of Oregon for scientific analysis and a $400 million donation to Stanford, Knight’s alma mater, in 2017 to ascertain a brand new science campus.
With this newest $2 billion dedication, Knight has cemented his place as one of the vital vital benefactors of upper training within the U.S. His reward tops that of businessman Michael Bloomberg, who in 2018 gave $1.8 billion to John Hopkins College for pupil monetary help in what the college then thought of the largest-ever reward to an American college.
Different current billion-dollar contributions embrace a $1 billion donation from Ruth Gottesman, the widow of a Wall Avenue financier, to make the Albert Einstein School of Drugs tuition-free in perpetuity, and a $1.1 billion reward from investor John Doerr and his spouse, Ann, to launch a sustainability college at Stanford in 2022.
