The Sioux Valley Hospitals & Health System in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, has announced a $400 million gift from local businessman T. Denny Sanford.

In recognition of the gift, the largest ever to a U.S. healthcare organization, the health system's board of trustees has unanimously voted to change its name to Sanford Health. The funds will be used to support several initiatives, with a focus on pediatric healthcare issues. They include Investment in Children, which will establish five pediatric clinics across the country that are fully integrated with facilities, programs, and services at Sanford Children's Hospital; and Sanford Research/USD (formerly South Dakota Health Research Foundation), which will expand its five research institutes and create the Sanford Pediatric Research Institute.

In addition, the Sanford Project will convene a commission of experts to identify the most promising area for focused medical research on a single pressing healthcare issue and will then assemble a team to undertake that research project. Last but not least, the Sanford Healthcare Campus of the Future will implement a new approach to healthcare campus and facility design, and over time will build more than twenty separate, specialized facilities in Sioux Falls.

"I am pleased to make a gift with the potential to have a lasting, positive impact on the health and well-being of children and adults in South Dakota and throughout the country," said Sanford, the CEO of United National Corporation, First Premier Bank, and Premier Bankcard. "I can think of no better investment than to financially empower those who have ably demonstrated their ability to set high goals and achieve them. My greatest desire is that this gift will create and sustain a momentum that results in major healthcare innovations and improvements in the human condition for generations to come."