Citadel CEO Ken Griffin donates $50M to UM’s Sylvester on 305 Day. What’s it for?

Billionaire, philanthropist and Citadel CEO Ken Griffin has donated $50 million to go toward research and developing new cancer treatments at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami.

UM President Julio Frenk and Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced Griffin’s $50 million naming gift for Sylvester’s new 12-story building at a news conference Tuesday morning at Sylvester.

UM officials say Griffin’s “landmark” gift will help Sylvester — the only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center in South Florida — double its research capabilities and help develop new cancer therapies, improve patient care and expand access to clinical trials.

“This gift elevates the outstanding research that will have the highest impact, giving us the ability to develop targeted treatments for our patients with the most complex cases,” said Dr. Dipen J. Parekh, chief operating officer of the University of Miami Health System, or UHealth, and founding director of the Desai Sethi Urology Institute.

Levine Cava said she believes the research and treatments that will be conducted inside the 12-story, 244,000-square-foot building will not just help the more than 12,000 families in the county impacted by cancer, but thousands elsewhere. Levine Cava’s longtime aide Sean McCrackine recently died from cancer.

“This is a transformational day. It’s a day that will light the way for a healthier Miami-Dade County and the world,” said Levine Cava. “...[W]ithin these walls, there will be breakthroughs forged and lives will be saved and futures will be rewritten.”

Florida has the second-highest burden of cancer in the country, and one-third of its people live in South Florida, according to UM.

The new research building, which was previously called the Transformational Cancer Research Building, will now be called the Kenneth C. Griffin Cancer Research Building. Griffin’s gift, which is part of UM’s $2.5 billion “Ever Brighter” fundraising campaign, is the second $50 million gift the university has received for the new research building. The first $50 million gift was made anonymously in 2020.

The new building, which is still under construction, is expected to open in 2025 and will offer research space to more than 240 cancer doctors and scientists. It will serve as a hub for cancer research, innovation, wellness and patient-centered care, according to university officials.

“Sylvester’s team of physicians, scientists and health care professionals play a leading role in our community’s efforts to defeat cancer,” said Griffin. “I am honored to support the transformational work of these incredible individuals in discovering, developing, and delivering life-saving treatments to those affected by this disease in South Florida and beyond.”

Griffin, who relocated his Citadel financial empire’s headquarters to Miami from Chicago in 2022, has been buying real estate across South Florida, including the purchase of the historic Arsht estate near the Vizcaya Museum in Coconut Grove. And he’s also been making hefty donations. Last year, Griffin donated $25 million to Nicklaus Children’s Hospital near South Miami, one of the largest single donations in the hospital’s 72-year history.

“Today we are celebrating a gift toward eradicating cancer and the people in this room represent, in my view, the generation that will end this disease in America and in the world,” said Griffin, who was born in Daytona Beach. “Thank you for your commitment to winning the war against cancer.”

The conference was held on 305 Day, a countywide celebration of the culture, food, art and people that makes Miami-Dade the 305. And because everyone in Miami is always repping the 305, Levine Cava also declared Griffin, 55, as “Mr. 305,” an honor Griffin quickly acknowledged would always belong to Pitbull. “Let the record be clear, and mayor, I’m sorry, but Pitbull wins,” he said.

“I was born in Florida, I will die in Florida. This will be my home ... I will do everything I can do to help make this truly one of the greatest cities in the world,” he added, expressing his pride in having a 305 phone number.

Griffin’s gift to Sylvester is his largest philanthropic gift in Florida to date and is among the 10 largest health-related philanthropic gifts in Florida in the last decade, according to the university.

Dr. Henri Ford, the dean and chief academic officer of UM’s Miller School of Medicine, believes the new research facility will help the university attract new cancer treatment specialists and inspire more medical students to become oncologists, potentially moving it into an ”elite research” medical school.

What is the mission of Sylvester’s new Miami research facility?

▪ Mission: Sylvester’s goal is to expand its research to develop lifesaving and practice-changing cancer treatments and therapies. Another focus will be to prioritize wellness during cancer treatments to improve the quality of life for patients, according to Dr. Frank Penedo, the director of Cancer Survivorship and Supportive Care at Sylvester.

“We’re raising a lot of awareness about monitoring and addressing symptoms of cancer and cancer treatment ... there’s a lot more to cancer than just the disease status itself. The emotional well being is critically important,” Penedo told the Miami Herald after the news conference. “And we have been doing research that has shown that not only can we bring patients in to provide them with the necessary skills to improve their quality of life, but that also relates to critical outcomes, like hospitalizations, and visits to the emergency room. So it’s comprehensive, holistic treatment of the patient.”

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▪ Sylvester’s promise: “The building is a symbol. We’ve been focusing on some cancers that are particularly lethal — pancreatic cancer, brain tumors and leukemia, and cancers that are prominent in our catchment area,” said Dr. Stephen Nimer, who serves as Sylvester’s director and executive dean for research at UM’s Miller School of Medicine.

“We are serious here in South Florida ... We’re going to find the solutions here, we’re going to deliver the solutions here for our friends, our family members, our community, and that’s essential to who we are,” Nimer told the Miami Herald after the news conference.