On Feb. 20, 2020, Tim Boyle, CEO of Columbia Sportswear, and his wife, Mary, made a $10 million gift to Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) in support of a new Oregon-based collaboration focused on utilizing ‘big data’ to better fight cancer and other diseases.

“Big data is driving significant advances in medicine,” said Tim Boyle. “That’s why Mary and I are pleased to support OHSU and the OHSU-University of Oregon Center for Biomedical Data Science. We believe this collaborative effort has tremendous potential to improve the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and many other diseases.”

Initial projects of the partnership will focus on cancer, and the center is poised to play a major role in the success of the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute’s two primary research initiatives: precision oncology and precision early cancer detection. Data and analytics are used across the continuum of cancer care, from the basic research lab to the patient’s bedside.

The Boyles have a long history of supporting cancer research and scholarship at OHSU. In 2014, they donated $10 million to the Knight Cancer Institute to recruit and support the next generation of cancer researchers. Currently, that mentorship fund supports eight scholars.

The fund honors Hildegard Lamfrom, Ph.D., Tim Boyle’s aunt and a leading molecular biologist before her death in 1984 at age 62. In 2010, the Boyles and Tim’s mother, Columbia Sportswear Chairman Gert Boyle, donated $2.5 million to create the Hildegard Lamfrom Endowed Chair in Basic Science at the Knight Cancer Institute. The Lamfrom Chair is currently held by Lisa Coussens, Ph.D., who also serves as associate director for basic research at the Knight Cancer Institute.