Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center receives largest donation in 47-year-history

The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center received a $78 million gift, the largest in its 47-year history.

The donations were made by Stuart and Molly Sloan.

Stuart Sloan is the owner of University Village, an outdoor mall in Seattle. He is also the founding sponsor of Obliteride, an annual fundraising event for Fred Hutch.

Molly Sloan is on the Fred Hutch Board of Advisors.

“(We) have been overwhelmed by their generosity and by their goals in making this gift: to help more people who are suffering from cancer,” Kelly O’Brien, the vice president of philanthropy at Fred Hutch, said.

The funds will be used to advance Fred Hutch’s research and work in precision oncology.

“It’s very much focused on personalized approaches and using our own cancer, the environment in which your cancer is developing, how your immune system responds to cancer treatments, microbiome — all things we’ve learned so much about in the past decade,” O’Brien said. “And so how do we make sure we’re getting the best treatments to people, so that they have more time, better quality time, and eventually, how do we find ways to prevent and cure cancer?”

The funds will be used to establish a new Precision Oncology Institute, which will be called the Stuart and Molly Sloan Precision Oncology Institute.

It will also be used to recruit more professionals, including the provision of funds for postdoctoral fellowships.

Lastly, the funds will be used to construct a 390,000 square-foot building on Fred Hutch’s campus in South Lake Union. The building will provide a space for precision oncology research to be done.

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