Providence announced Tuesday that it received a $1.1 billion philanthropic commitment to support the system’s flagship Oregon medical center, expand cardiovascular care services and establish the state’s first women’s hospital.
The gift comes from billionaire Nike founder Phil Knight and his wife Penny, who have already contributed $200 million to the Providence Heart Institute over the past decade.
“Penny and I have always believed that real breakthroughs come from people willing to take on the toughest challenges,” Phil Knight said in the nonprofit system’s announcement of the gift. “Providence has shown that kind of ambition in cardiovascular care, and we see the same opportunity to do something truly distinctive for women’s health. We’re proud to invest in teams that will change what’s possible for communities across Oregon and beyond.”
The upcoming women’s hospital will be located at the 539-bed Providence St. Vincent Medical Center, which also houses the Heart Institute, and will bring with it “hundreds” of new clinical and non-clinical positions, the organization said. The initiative will add a new neonatal intensive care unit and recovery spaces while enhancing care coordination and multidisciplinary collaboration across the medical campus.
“Providence St. Vincent has long been a trusted destination for maternity care, delivering more babies than any other hospital in the state," Ray Moreno, M.D., chief executive for Providence St. Vincent, said. “We’re also known for our cardiology program and other specialized services for women. … The Knights’ gift is an opportunity to bring these resources together, expanding access for women across Oregon and creating a strong foundation to bridge care gaps in women’s health.”
For the Providence Heart Institute, which sees nearly 63,000 patients per year, the gift supports “the next generation” of new cardiovascular treatments and cardiac imaging. It’ll also expand the portfolio of clinical trials available to patients and help the institute recruit “physician-leaders who will accelerate our forward momentum,” the institute’s executive medical director, Dan Oseran, M.D., said.
Providence added that the gift will also help the medical center broadly enhance its care services and technology, and develop other patient support initiatives.
“I join everyone at Providence in extreme gratitude to Phil and Penny Knight for demonstrating their confidence in our caregivers, our leaders and our Mission,” Erik Wexler, the system’s president and CEO, said.
The Knights have been active philanthropists in the Oregon healthcare community. Last year, the couple pledged $2 billion to their namesake Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health & Science University, to which they had already directed hundreds of millions. The donation was substantial enough for the institute to transition to a self-governed entity under the university, leading to the Knight Cancer Group, which helps manage OHSU’s cancer services.
This week is proving to be a big one for healthcare philanthropy. On the nation’s opposite coast, nonprofit Hackensack Meridian Health announced it received a $125 million gift from an anonymous donor.
That gift is the largest in the organization’s history and the largest of its kind for New Jersey. The system said it will be using the funds to expand its Jersey Shore University Medical Center, which hosts the area’s Level 1 adult and pediatric trauma center and, at the request of the donor, will see a pavilion named for the late John K. Lloyd, who helped lead the facility for decades and retired in 2018.
"A gift of $125 million—the largest in our history and the largest of its kind ever made in New Jersey healthcare—reflects a donor's deep confidence in our doctors, nurses, and other clinicians,” Hackensack Meridian Health Foundation President and Chief Development Officer Joyce Hendricks said. “It will help us expand access, advance the most sophisticated treatments available anywhere in the country, and ensure that world-class care is not something families have to travel far to find. It's already in their backyard.”