With $10 million invested since 2019, the William, Jeff & Jennifer Gross Family Foundation continues to shape the future of heart and cancer care

 

CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 12, 2026 – Atrium Health Foundation is expanding its partnership with the California-based William, Jeff & Jennifer Gross Family Foundation, which has committed $2 million to advance clinical research and care innovation at Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute and Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute. Since 2019, the foundation has donated $10 million to Atrium Health. 

Founded by renowned investor and philanthropist Bill Gross and his son and daughter, the William, Jeff & Jennifer Gross Family Foundation is committed to funding organizations that provide abundant and dedicated support to the communities they serve. Among them, Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute and Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute hold special meaning for the Gross family and their loved ones. 

“Over the past eight years, the enduring generosity of the Gross family has been a driving force for innovation in education, research and clinical care at Atrium Health,” said Mark Griffith, president of Atrium Health Foundation and Advocate Health’s vice president of philanthropy for North Carolina and Georgia. “Their support allows us to expand patient-centered care for cancer and cardiovascular disease.” 

 

Building the future of cardiovascular analytics 

Building on a strong history of giving, the William, Jeff & Jennifer Gross Family Foundation’s latest commitment will advance the Center for Advanced Cardiovascular Analytics. The program is housed within the Jenny & Jeff Gross Family Center for Cardiovascular Care Transformation, established in 2019. The gift will help: 

  • Expand the analytics team to include data scientists, quality engineers and clinical informatics specialists 
  • Integrate data systems across Advocate Health to improve visibility into performance and care delivery 
  • Accelerate innovation cycles to identify opportunities and measure impact 
  • Strengthen analytics to better identify and address disparities in care 

Led by Dr. Bill Downey, the Gross Family Endowed Chair in Cardiovascular Medicine, the center serves as the catalyst for innovation in education, research and clinical care models for cardiovascular medicine. Through the William, Jeff & Jennifer Gross Family Foundation’s continued philanthropy, Advocate Health’s Heart and Vascular National Service Line will expand systems that help deliver consistent, high-quality care across the communities it serves. 

 

Closing the gap in blood cancer care 

The William, Jeff & Jennifer Gross Family Foundation has committed $1 million of their gift to advance clinical discoveries in hematologic oncology research at Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute. The funding will help expand participation in National Cancer Institute-supported and investigator-initiated clinical trials. This support helps offset the gap between federal reimbursement and the full cost of conducting high-quality clinical research. Dr. Bei Hu, associate professor of medicine in hematologic oncology and blood disorders at Levine Cancer Institute, leads several of these clinical trials, including a study testing novel drug combinations to find more tolerable, effective lymphoma treatments. 

The Gross family’s commitment will also ensure quality and equity of lymphoma care across Levine Cancer Institute and expand patient access and assistance by alleviating financial hardships and barriers to care, improving both patients’ outcomes and quality of life.  

“We owe a debt of gratitude to the Gross family, whose generous support can help position Levine Cancer Institute as a national leader in cancer care,” said Dr. Hu. “Their invaluable investment will enable more clinical trials for blood cancers so that patients can receive more effective therapies with fewer side effects, resulting in an overall enhanced patient experience.” 

 

Contact:
Kirstin Ashford
(704) 907-3778
Kirstin.Ashford@AtriumHealth.org 

 

About Atrium Health Foundation 

Founded in 1959, Atrium Health Foundation is one of the largest charitable foundations in Charlotte. As the point of contact for all contributions benefiting Atrium Health in the Charlotte region, the Foundation is redefining care through transformational giving. Through its current Giving Hope Campaign, Atrium Health Foundation is supporting Atrium Health’s efforts to create the learning health system of the future by building healthy communities, outstanding education programs, preeminent research and exemplary facilities. 

 

About Atrium Health    
Atrium Health is advancing clinical care and research across the communities it serves by redefining care for all. The care network is anchored by Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center, an academic medical center in Charlotte that includes Levine Children’s Hospital, Levine Cancer Institute and Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute, along with 11 hospitals, more than 900 care locations and over 1,400 physicians serving communities across the greater Charlotte region. It is part of Charlotte, North Carolina-based Advocate Health, the third-largest nonprofit, integrated health system in the United States. Advocate Health is a preeminent academic health system at the forefront of clinical excellence, innovation and research, with Wake Forest University School of Medicine serving as its academic core. Nationally recognized for expertise in heart and vascular, neurosciences, oncology, pediatrics and rehabilitation, Advocate Health is also a pioneer in the delivery of virtual health care. It’s accelerating discovery by making research participation part of the standard-of-care through its one-of-a-kind National Center for Clinical Trials. Advocate Health has one of the nation’s largest graduate medical education programs, with an experiential learning focus and specialized residencies to help protect the long-term sustainability of rural health care in America. Each campus of the school of medicine has an affiliated life-sciences focused innovation district: The Pearl, in Charlotte, and Innovation Quarter, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. With more than 165,000 teammates serving patients at 69 hospitals and over 1,000 care locations across eight states, Advocate Health reinvests over $6 billion each year to improve community health, making it one of the nation’s largest providers of community benefit. 

 

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