On Sept. 17, 2012, Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) in Portland announced that it had received a $125 million gift from Nike co-founder and chair Phil Knight and his wife, Penny, to establish a cardiovascular institute.

The gift is the largest in OHSU history and the Knights’ second landmark gift to the hospital, following a 2008 pledge of $100 million for the Knight Cancer Institute.

This latest donation will be used to establish the OHSU Cardiovascular Institute. Organizers said the mission of the institute will be to accelerate new prevention, diagnostic and treatment strategies being developed in the laboratory and transition them into patient care clinics as rapidly as possible.

The institute will be co-directed by Oregon heart surgeon Dr. Albert Starr and cardiovascular imaging pioneer Dr. Sanjiv Kaul, who currently heads OHSU’s Division of Cardiovascular Medicine.

The OHSU Cardiovascular Institute will also serve as an integrated center for research, clinical care, professional training and outreach in all aspects of heart and vascular disease, officials said.