{"entity":{"id":"phil-knight","kind":"person","name":"Phil Knight","aka":["Phil and Penny Knight"],"tldr":"Phil and Penny Knight gave OHSU $100 million in 2008, a $500 million challenge in 2013 that Oregon met within two years, and $2 billion in 2025, described by OHSU as the largest gift to a US university.","summary":"Phil Knight, co-founder of Nike, and his wife Penny have made the Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health & Science University one of the best-funded cancer centres in the world. OHSU's history records a $100 million gift in 2008, after which the institute took the Knights' name; a $500 million challenge grant in 2013 that required OHSU to raise a matching $500 million; and, in 2015, the meeting of the $1 billion Knight Cancer Challenge with the help of a $100 million gift from Gert Boyle and $200 million in bonds from the Oregon Legislature. In 2025 the Knights gave a further $2 billion, described by OHSU as the largest gift to a US university in history, to fund Brian Druker's vision of transforming cancer care. Druker, the institute's director, led the clinical development of imatinib, the first targeted cancer drug; the Knight money built the Knight Cancer Research Building and a programme aimed at detecting lethal cancers early.","asOf":"2026-09-10","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Knight","links":[{"label":"OHSU Knight Cancer Institute: mission and history","url":"https://www.ohsu.edu/knight-cancer-institute/knight-cancer-institute-mission-and-history"}],"tags":["hero","donor"],"related":[],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":["early-detection"],"targets":[],"drugs":["imatinib"],"companies":[],"institutions":["ohsu-knight"],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":["brian-druker","gert-boyle"],"bottlenecks":["b-funding-allocation","b-early-detection"],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"role":"Nike co-founder whose gifts to OHSU Knight Cancer Institute total more than $2.6 billion","specialisms":["Cancer centre building","Early detection research","Challenge grants"],"profiles":[],"papers":[]},"route":"/people/phil-knight/","neighbours":{"section":[{"id":"early-detection","kind":"section","name":"Early Detection & Screening","route":"/fronts/early-detection/"}],"drug":[{"id":"imatinib","kind":"drug","name":"Imatinib","route":"/drugs/imatinib/"}],"institution":[{"id":"ohsu-knight","kind":"institution","name":"OHSU Knight Cancer Institute","route":"/institutions/ohsu-knight/"}],"person":[{"id":"brian-druker","kind":"person","name":"Brian Druker","route":"/people/brian-druker/"},{"id":"gert-boyle","kind":"person","name":"Gert Boyle","route":"/people/gert-boyle/"}],"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-funding-allocation","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Funding follows fashion, not burden","route":"/bottlenecks/b-funding-allocation/"},{"id":"b-early-detection","kind":"bottleneck","name":"The hardest cancers are found late","route":"/bottlenecks/b-early-detection/"}]}}