Knights' Donation to Cancer Center: $2B

Dr. Brian Druker received a call from Phil Knight in August 2022 saying the Nike co-founder was interested in the research pioneer's vision for cancer care. This May, Knight called back to say he would support that vision—which he described as including cancer research, diagnosis, treatment, care, and, eventually, eradication—with $2 billion. "What do you say when somebody says they want to give you $2 billion?" Druker said. The gift, from Knight and his wife, Penny Knight, to Oregon Health & Science University's Knight Cancer Institute, was announced Thursday. It's the largest single donation to a US university, the Wall Street Journal reports, made during a period when colleges' funding is being threatened.

"We couldn't be more excited about the transformational potential of this work for humanity," the Knights said in a statement. Among other uses, the money will fund:

• Hiring 300 more staff members, including 180 faculty members and employees to support patients, per OregonLive.
• Changing the Knight Cancer Institute to a self-governed institution operating within OHSU, with its own board of governors. The advantages include allowing the institute to set its own compensation rates and compete nationally when hiring cancer researchers, said Druker, who developed the drug Gleevec that transformed survival rates for chronic myeloid leukemia patients.
• Doubling the size of the cancer center, allowing it to conduct more research, including clinical trials, and treat more patients, per the Journal.
• Remaking the process for patients, starting with their diagnosis. Druker said he wants the institute to become a one-stop destination for every step of testing and treatment, while stressing guiding patients through a trying and complex experience.

Knight's philanthropy has included large donations to the University of Oregon, which paid for a redoing of the athletic campus; Knight, whose worth is estimated at $35 billion, ran track at the school in the late 1950s. Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek told a cheering crowd at the announcement that the Knights' gift, which will be donated over 10 years, will mean a more ambitious future in her state. "For OHSU, for Portland and for Oregon, there will always be the time before today and after today," she said.