Introducing Golisano Children's at UK
The University of Kentucky and UK HealthCare are humbled to be the stewards of a historic gift that will transform health care for Kentucky's kids.
On Oct. 28, 2025, entrepreneur and philanthropist B. Thomas Golisano announced a $50 million gift to UK and Kentucky Children’s Hospital. This is the largest gift in UK HealthCare history and the second largest gift to UK. Our children’s hospital, our children’s specialty clinic and our affiliate network will be named for Golisano:
- Kentucky Children’s Hospital is now Golisano Children’s at UK.
- The Kentucky Children’s Affiliate Network is Golisano Children’s at UK – Affiliate Network.
- Kentucky Children’s Richmond Road is Golisano Children’s at UK – Richmond Road.
Our children’s hospital also joins the Golisano Children’s Alliance, a first-of-its-kind collaboration between children’s hospitals bearing the Golisano name. The alliance is dedicated to elevating pediatric care by expanding services, strengthening collaboration and ensuring children have access to the highest-quality medical services close to home.
UK President Eli Capilouto said Golisano’s “generosity is a testament to his faith in what we provide to Kentucky and its children — a promise to extend compassionate care to more patients, closer to home. We’ll translate his gift into acts of goodness to ensure a healthier, wealthier and wiser Kentucky.”
Golisano’s powerful vision is to create a network of children’s hospitals that expand access to world-class care for kids and families who need it most. With this gift, we will be able to:
- Increase our capacity for care, through our children’s affiliate network, to more families and partner providers throughout the state. Already, we serve 40 counties in Kentucky, as well as parts of Ohio and West Virginia.
- Expand pediatric research efforts, specifically in areas such as inherited cancers and immune system maladies.
- Strengthen the wraparound care services for children with special healthcare needs that often extend up to and through adulthood.
- Extend the pediatric forensics treatment we provide to improve prevention and care for Kentucky children suffering from abuse or neglect.
With this gift – and with the healing hands and caring hearts of our amazing team – we will be able to do more tomorrow than ever before to make a difference – and to advance Kentucky.
About Tom Golisano
Tom Golisano, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and civic leader, is the founder of Paychex Inc., the nation’s largest human resource company for small to medium-sized businesses. Golisano’s vision, perseverance and action have left an indelible mark on a broad spectrum of issues that touch our lives — in business, healthcare, education, animal welfare, voter policies, politics and tax reform. His investments are advancing entrepreneurship and driving the success of numerous businesses and start-ups. His philanthropic contributions to education, hospitals — including multiple children’s hospitals across the country that bear his name and numerous other organizations — exceeds $1 billion.
A fierce advocate for dignity and inclusion, in 1985 Golisano applied his pioneering spirit to establish the Golisano Foundation to make the world a better place for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. With more than $120 million in gross assets, it is one of the largest private foundations in the United States devoted to supporting programs for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, awarding grants to nonprofit organizations in Western New York and Southwest Florida.
Mr. Golisano formed and financially supports the Golisano Institute for Business & Entrepreneurship, where students receive a high quality business certificate and write their own entrepreneurial success stories, without having to take on enormous debt.
He is the author of two Books, “Built Not Born,” a Wall Street Journal best seller, and “The Italian Kid Did It!”
Connect with him at Golisanofoundation.org, Facebook: @GolisanoFoundation, X: GolisanoFdn, Instagram: @golisanofdn, YouTube: @GolisanoFoundation