$10 million gift from Robert and Lisa Margolis to Duke University

Duke-Margolis and Duke University announced that our generous founder, Bob Margolis, and his wife Lisa, have given an additional $10 million gift from their family foundation, to further our mission to advance health, health equity, and the value of health care through practical, innovative and evidence-based policy solutions.

Since Bob and Lisa’s founding $16.5 million gift in 2016, and as a result of the good guidance from the Advisory Board and Duke leadership, Duke-Margolis has become a nationally and internationally recognized leader in health policy. We are now a proven and trusted source for evidence-based health policy research, analysis and recommendations that state and national leaders in the public and private sectors regularly and actively seek out to address the health care challenges facing their communities and the nation.

The new $10 million gift will create a permanent, unrestricted endowment for Duke-Margolis that will support our efforts to educate the next generation of health care leaders, advance health care transformation and further biomedical innovation. The gift aims to encourage other donors to expand Duke-Margolis support and endowment, by including a match for future endowment gifts up to $10 million by the Margolis Family Foundation.

Duke President Vincent E. Price noted that “Bob and Lisa’s visionary leadership and generous support have enabled Duke to become a leader in shaping national health policy.” And, our long-time champion Gene Washington, now Chancellor Emeritus called the Duke-Margolis “committed interdisciplinary focus ensures the very best and brightest can collaborate with leaders in the public sector and across industries on innovative health policy solutions that benefit the good of society.” Mary Klotman, executive vice president for health affairs for the university and dean of Duke University School of Medicine, said “Duke-Margolis inspires all of us across Duke University with its visible reminder of what good policy can do in our world.”

This gift comes at a critical time for Duke-Margolis. In our initial years, we demonstrated how drawing on a wide range of academic disciplines and expertise can inform and advance effective health reforms. Now, with this gift, Duke and Duke-Margolis are re-doubling our shared commitment to leverage our approach and the breadth of Duke expertise and perspectives into additional research and educational programming, to advance evidence-based health policy and achieve better health and greater health equity at the state, national and global levels.

“Creating a world where everyone has access to innovative health care to enable them to thrive is a dream we hope to see in our own lifetime, and we know we can make progress together,” he said. “We invite our Duke community of alumni, donors and friends to work with us to make this a reality.”

Robert J. Margolis, M.D., is a 1971 graduate of Duke University School of Medicine and the retired managing partner and CEO of HealthCare Partners, a physician-owned and operated medical group, independent physician association, and management services organization.

He was a founder of California Primary Physicians Medical Group and serves on the Board of Directors of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Hospital in Los Angeles and the National Committee for Quality Assurance. He previously served as chair of the California Association of Physician Groups, the California Hospital Medical Center, and the Council of Accountable Physician Practices.