In 1992, the Oregon Cancer Center, later known as the OHSU Cancer Institute, was founded at Oregon Health & Science University. Grover Bagby, M.D., a Leukemia expert, was the founding director. The following year, Dr. Bagby recruited Brian Druker, M.D., to work on imatinib, an experimental drug that targets abnormal blood cells in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).

In 2008, the OHSU Cancer Institute was renamed The Knight Cancer Institute.