Citadel CEO Ken Griffin donates $15M to Mount Sinai. What it means for patients
Billionaire philanthropist and Citadel CEO Ken Griffin has donated $15 million to Mount Sinai Medical Center to help expand cancer research and treatment in Miami Beach and Hialeah.
The donation will support Mount Sinai’s new five-story cancer center being built on the hospital’s Miami Beach campus overlooking Biscayne Bay and will also expand cancer care at its west Hialeah location. The gift is the latest health care-related donation Griffin has made in South Florida since he moved his Citadel headquarters to Miami in 2022.
“Mount Sinai Medical Center provides extraordinary care for our South Florida community,” Griffin said in a statement. “I care deeply about ensuring that those fighting cancer receive the compassionate care they deserve, and I am proud to support the life-saving work of the transformative Braman Comprehensive Cancer Center.”
The cancer expansion is part of Mount Sinai’s strategy to bring care closer to potential patients as Miami-Dade’s population ages and cancer rates rise in the U.S. More people are getting diagnosed with cancer, and at younger ages. Cancer is also the second leading cause of death in Florida, after heart disease, according to the state’s health department. But early detection and effective treatments have helped cancer deaths steadily decline.
Offering “care closer to home makes a big impact because it’s the difference between people going to get care and putting it off,” Mount Sinai President and CEO Gino R. Santorio told the Miami Herald in a recent interview.
What does this mean for patients?
Mount Sinai’s new 200,000-square-foot Braman Comprehensive Cancer Center at 4310 Alton Road in Miami Beach is expected to open in early 2026. It will replace Mount Sinai’s existing cancer center and be a new hub for treatment, clinical trials and other research. Mount Sinai’s original Comprehensive Cancer Center, which opened in 1996, will be repurposed, though those plans are still in the works, according to the hospital.
The new center will offer the latest tech and cancer treatments, including a “comprehensive hereditary cancer genetics program” for people with a known or suspected inherited risk of developing cancer, according to the private not-for-profit hospital system.
Santorio said wellness will also be a key part of the facility, which will offer support groups, access to nutritionists and other services, including a spa, wig shop and a “cold cap room,” where patients can undergo scalp cooling therapy to minimize hair loss. On the fifth floor, patients will receive infusions while looking at Biscayne Bay.
Research has shown that women who have higher anxiety and depression, for example, often show signs of inflammation and elevated stress hormones, which can lead to poorer outcomes.
“We really want to change the experience that they have, and if you don’t look at the overall wellness of the patient, mentally as well, then you’re missing half the battle,” said Santorio.
Griffin’s donation will also help Mount Sinai expand cancer services at its west Hialeah medical center and freestanding ER at 6050 W. 20th Ave., which was recently renamed after Griffin. The center provides ER, primary, cancer and other specialty care services mainly to people who live in Hialeah and Miami Lakes. The hospital said the philanthropist’s donation will give it the ability to hire more physicians and expand oncology subspecialties at the location.
At Mount Sinai’s east Hialeah center, 522 E. 25th St., which currently offers primary care, new urology and cardiology offices are expected to open within the next two months. Plans are also in the works to add oncology and other specialty care services in the future.
“The South Florida healthcare landscape continues to be transformed by Mr. Griffin’s extraordinary commitment to improving lives,” Santorio said in a news release. “His investment in Mount Sinai will help enhance the robust services and expertise offered at the Braman Comprehensive Cancer Center. We are proud that our Hialeah Emergency Center will bear Mr. Griffin’s name and serve as a lasting legacy to all he has done to improve and expand the effectiveness of health care in our community and beyond.”
A look at Griffin’s South Florida hospital donations
Daytona Beach-born Griffin has been buying real estate across South Florida over the past several years, including the purchase of the historic Arsht estate near the Vizcaya Museum in Coconut Grove, and making hefty donations in the region.
Last year, the philanthropist donated $50 million toward research and developing new cancer treatments at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami and made a similar $50 million donation to Baptist Health South Florida for research and care into Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative disorders.
In 2023, he donated $25 million to Nicklaus Children’s Hospital to help fund its new surgical tower and support the hospital’s four major institutes related to the brain, cancer and blood disorders, the heart and orthopedics.
