Dr. Henry and Dr. Susan Samueli are adding a donation of $50 million to the Samueli Integrative Cancer Pioneering Institute in the Davidoff Center at Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva. The institute was founded in 2022 with an initial donation of $25 million from the Samueli family, and with additional funding from the Clalit health fund. The current donation again breaks the record for a donation to research in a hospital in Israel.
"We believe that Israeli scientific excellence, supported by research funding, can deliver the next major breakthrough in cancer care. Israel has some of the brightest minds and the determination to transform the way cancer is studied and treated," the couple said.
Henry Samueli founded semiconductor company Broadcom in 1991 when he was a professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at UCLA, and he currently serves as chairperson of the company. His parents were Holocaust survivors who came to the US penniless and opened a liquor store. Today he is among the Forbes list of the 60 wealthiest people in the world with a net worth estimated at $38.1 billion, chiefly in Broadcom stock. Susan Samueli, a mathematician and programmer who held various posts at IBM, switched to holistic nutrition and alternative medicine and is currently a consultant in those fields.
The couple run the Samueli Foundation, which supports various causes principally in Orange County in California, and Jewish cultural life in California and Israel. Since it was founded, the Samueli Institute has engaged in research and development of innovative treatments for cancer.
After just two years, three treatments developed in the institute are in clinical trials. In 2024, clean laboratories were inaugurated, designed for the development and production of advanced treatments based on the patient’s immune system. Altogether, $93.5 million have been invested in the institute.
The chairperson of the institute is Prof. Gal Markel, director of the Davidoff Cancer Center (and the son of Dr. Shlomo Markel, who was VP for strategy at Broadcom). "In just three years, our teams have achieved significant international milestones that will shape the future of cancer medicine. The path we are paving will be adopted worldwide, bringing hope and healing. I am deeply moved that the Samuelis have once again chosen to entrust us with this mission," Prof. Markel said.
The institute’s CEO, Brig. Gen. (res.) Avner Paz-Tsuk, added: "Thanks to our exceptional and dedicated staff, and to this extraordinary gift, the Institute is positioned to become one of the world’s emerging forces in applied cancer research."
In recent years, several Israel academic and medical institutions have received large donations. A billionaire from Miami whose identity has still not been disclosed gave $260 million to Bar-Ilan University for investment in deep-tech. Jonathan Gray, president of investment firm Blackstone, and his wife Mindy donated $125 million to the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at Tel Aviv University; the Harlap family gave $10 million for the restoration of a building at the Weizmann Institute of Science damaged by an Iranian missile during Operation Rising Lion; and the Cohen Hazon Foundation, which controls Turpaz Industries, donated 1% of the shares in the company to Beilinson, Sheba, and Soroka hospitals, a donation estimated to be worth NIS 47 million at the time.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on April 30, 2026.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2026.