On Apr. 22, 2022, Stanford University announced it was awarded a $75 million gift from Nike co-founder Phil Knight and his wife, Penny, in support of a multidisciplinary neurodegenerative brain disease research initiative at the university’s Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute.

The Phil and Penny Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience will explore the causes of cognitive decline from diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, as well as potential treatments, focusing on the sources of brain aging, identifying the principles of brain health, establishing techniques to encourage healthy aging and brain resilience, and finding early diagnostics, neurotherapeutics, and effective treatments for brain degeneration.