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$500 million cancer pledge comes with a catch

The pressure is on for Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). On 21 September, the Portland university received a surprise pledge of US$500 million for its cancer institute – potentially the biggest donation in OHSU history. But there is one condition: OHSU will only receive the cash if it raises another $500 million in two years.

The donors who set that challenge — tennis-shoe entrepreneur Phil Knight, co-founder of the company Nike, and his wife Penny — have long been kind to OHSU. In 2008 the university’s cancer institute was renamed the Knight Cancer Institute in honor of the couple’s $100 million contribution. Four years later, the Knights followed suit with $125 million for the OHSU cardiovascular center.

According to the Oregonian, the latest donation — announced during a gala for the cancer institute — came as a shock. Brian Druker, director of the institute, had come knocking just a few months earlier, asking for $1 billion. The $500 million challenge, it seems, was the Knights’ response.

Druker is no small player himself: his research led to the first targeted cancer therapy, a drug called Gleevec that revolutionized the treatment of a form of chronic leukemia. But as he and his colleagues canvas for donations, they’ll likely meet with steep competition as budget cuts send other universities – and especially medical schools and private research institutes – out to pound the pavement as well.

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    Sergio Stagnaro said:

    As experience shows, the money does not stop cancer today’s increasing epidemic, all around the world: Telecom, Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), and so on. The only effective weapon to stop the epidemic of cancer is our will to fight it and win it on very large scale through the Pre-Primary, https://www.sisbq.org/qbs-magazine.html, and Primary Prevention, according to Sergio Stagnaro’s Quantum Biophysical Semeiotics, described again in two recent articles:
    Sergio Stagnaro and Simone Caramel (2013). The Role of Modified Mediterranean Diet and Quantum Therapy in Oncological Primary Prevention. Bentham PG., Current Nutrition & Food Science ISSN (Print): 1573-4013; ISSN (Online): 2212-3881. VOLUME: 9, Volume 8 Issue 1; DOI: 10.2174/1573401311309010011; https://eurekaselect.com/106105/article;
    Sergio Stagnaro and Simone Caramel. BRCA-1 and BRCA-2 mutation bedside detection and breast cancer clinical primary prevention. Front. Genet. | doi: 10.3389/fgene.2013.00039. https://www.frontiersin.org/Cancer_Genetics/10.3389/fgene.2013.00039/full [MEDLINE] :
    Sergio Stagnaro and Simone Caramel (2013). Quantum Biophysical Semeiotics Constitutions play a central Role in Single Patient Based Medicine. Journal of Quantum BiophysicalSemeiotics, http://www.sisbq.org, https://www.sisbq.org/uploads/5/6/8/7/5687930/qbsspbm.pdf .

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