$44M gift aims to accelerate search for Type I diabetes cure

U-M is announcing today (Nov. 22) that it will launch a new and comprehensive initiative aimed at accelerating the search for a cure for Type 1 diabetes.

The Brehms and University officials celebrate the $44 million gift. Clockwise from left: Jerry May, vice president for development; Bill and Dee Brehm; Dr. Robert P. Kelch, executive vice president for medical affairs and CEO of UMHS; Dr. Paul Lichter, director of the Kellogg Eye Center; Dr. Allen Lichter, dean of the Medical School; Timothy Slottow, executive vice president and chief financial officer; and President Mary Sue Coleman. (Photo by Martin Vloet, U-M Photo Services)

The initiative will be enabled by a private donation from Bill and Dee Brehm of $44 million—the largest gift ever for the U-M Health System (UMHS), and the second-largest gift in the University's history.

Says Dr. Allen S. Lichter, dean of the Medical School, "This initiative will point toward a new and different paradigm for Type I diabetes research. It is one intended to accelerate the research process through the unprecedented use of systems
analysis and modern information science, and fed by true interdisciplinary cooperation and sharing of research results in real time.

"The community of scientists at Michigan is fully prepared to take this step—not just those in medicine but in allied fields as well, stretching across the breadth and depth of this great University—for we need a frontal assault on this disease."

The Brehms of McLean, Va., say their motivation is both personal and philanthropic. In the 55 years since she was diagnosed with Type I diabetes, Dee Brehm has given herself more than 100,000 insulin injections. She has tested her blood more than 60,000 times since home monitors became available. Those actions have kept her alive and helped her fend off the life-threatening complications suffered by many others with the disease.

But the Brehms want something more: They want the pace of the search for a cure to be accelerated.

After extensive discussions over four years with scientists at Michigan and elsewhere in the field, they became convinced that, through modern management techniques, the work of the scientists could be enhanced without compromising their creativity or quality standards, thereby affording an acceleration of the research. They outlined a proposal to U-M and are very pleased with its enthusiastic response.

Says Bill Brehm, "It has been 82 years since insulin became available for therapy. It was a wonderful contribution. However, its effect—we must understand—was not to cure Type I diabetes but rather to alter it from a 'catastrophic' disease to a 'chronic' disease. Now it is time for Type 1 diabetes to become a 'cured' disease."

He continues, "We are very pleased that the University of Michigan is not only willing to mount this major initiative, but that it also stands ready to develop this new paradigm in collaboration with all like-minded research institutions in the United States and elsewhere—to involve all of the fine scientists who today search for a cure for this awful disease."

Lichter has pledged that U-M will put "everything we've got" into fulfilling the Brehms' vision. "We're thrilled, and humbled, by their faith in our ability," he says.

Adds Dee Brehm, "We proposed this initiative to the University of Michigan because we found there the collaborative spirit and receptive attitudes necessary to consider and then embrace new ways of thinking about medical research. Moreover, Michigan has the technical and administrative strength and breadth to make this initiative a success, and it has the enthusiastic support of President Mary Sue Coleman and the entire University leadership team. If, through our gift, others can be spared the daily burdens of fear and caution and uncertainty that have so colored our lives because of diabetes, our dreams will have been realized."

The plan encompasses four major actions:

• The establishment of a new Center for Type I Diabetes Research at U-M.

• The design and construction of a new and unique multidisciplinary research facility to support the center. The exact location and design of the facility have not been finalized, and will require approval by the Board of Regents.

• The establishment of the Michigan Comprehensive Diabetes Center—a virtual organization aimed at integrating, through communication and collaboration, all research activity on campus relevant to the search for a cure for Type I diabetes, from medicine and biology to physics, engineering and information science.

• The establishment of eight new faculty positions devoted to Type 1 research, drawing on the finest scientists available worldwide.

"All of these components of the Brehms' gift will work together to foster unprecedented collaboration among all who seek a solution to Type I diabetes," says Dr. Robert P. Kelch, executive vice president for medical affairs and CEO of UMHS. Kelch is a pediatric endocrinologist who has diagnosed and treated many patients with Type I diabetes.

The gift's centerpiece is $30 million to design, build and equip a facility that will embody the new approach to Type I research envisioned by the Brehms.

Dee Brehm first was diagnosed as Type 1 during her sophomore year at Eastern Michigan University in 1949, and became a patient of Dr. Jerome Conn, then chief of endocrinology at U-M.

Bill Brehm, who holds two degrees in mathematics from U-M, served as assistant secretary of the Army under Presidents Johnson and Nixon, and later as assistant secretary of defense under Presidents Nixon and Ford. Today he is chairman emeritus of SRA International in Fairfax, Va.; chairman of the Center for Naval Analyses in Alexandria, Va.; and a trustee of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif.

To learn more about the Brehm gift, visit http://www.med.umich.edu/brehm.