More than 400 donors from Clark County helped Oregon Health & Science University reach its $500 million Knight Cancer Challenge fundraising goal.
OHSU announced last week it met the challenge posed by Nike co-founder Phil Knight and his wife, Penny: raise $500 million in less than two years to earn the Knights’ matching gift. The Knights issued the challenge in September 2013.
The $1 billion will support the first large-scale program dedicated to early detection of lethal cancers.
About 420 Clark County donors contributed more than $11 million toward that total, according to OHSU. At the top of that list is the Wayne D. Kuni and Joan E. Kuni Foundation, which donated $5 million.
“We’re thrilled to continue investing in OHSU’s work to revolutionize cancer treatment and early detection,” said Jacki Gallo, the foundation’s executive director.
The Kuni Foundation — created in 2005 by Wayne Kuni, who founded Vancouver-based Kuni Automotive in 1970 — has a long-standing relationship with OHSU’s Knight Cancer Institute. Wayne Kuni’s vision for the foundation was to support housing for developmentally disabled adults and cancer research, especially local and regional research, Gallo said.
The Knight Cancer challenge aligned perfectly with the foundation’s mission, she said.
“We believe the Knight Cancer Institute will bring not only nationwide recognition but worldwide recognition,” Gallo said. “The team (Dr.) Brian Druker is putting together will be world renowned.”
The OHSU Knight Cancer Institute will now begin recruiting about 25 of the world’s top researchers. That core group will then hire an additional 225 to 275 scientists and physicians, building a team focused on the detection of cancer. The effort is headed by Druker, director of the Knight Cancer Institute and creator of Gleevec, a once-a-day cancer pill that treats chronic myeloid leukemia.
OHSU will also construct two buildings to house a state-of-the-art cancer research facility.
In all, more than 10,000 donors participated in the challenge. Donations were received from every state and five countries, according to OHSU.
The largest gift came from the state of Oregon, which invested $200 million for research and clinical facilities. Columbia Sportswear Chairwoman Gert Boyle gave the largest individual donation, $100 million.
Throughout the years, the Kuni Foundation has made grants totaling several million dollars to support several “Kuni Scholars” working in cancer research hospitals in the Northwest, including OHSU.
The foundation recently wrapped up its own $12 million project — a residential community for adults with developmental disabilities, called Stephen’s Place — and saw OHSU coming down the final stretch of the Knight Cancer Challenge, Gallo said. The challenge presented the perfect opportunity for the foundation to get involved in cancer research again, she said.
“If they cure cancer, and we think they will, that’s going to save millions and millions of lives,” Gallo said.
