By Mary Margaret Colliver
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The gift, in the form of proceeds from the
locally legendary Barnstable-Brown Derby Party, will be given in five increments of
$100,000. The Research Challenge Trust Fund established earlier this year by the state
legislature, through the leadership of Gov. Paul Patton, will match the gift so that each
university will benefit by a total of $1 million.
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LOUISVILLE, KY (Dec. 26, 1998) -- Patricia
Barnstable-Brown and her sister Priscilla Barnstable will announce at today’s
University of Louisville vs. University of Kentucky basketball game that they will
contribute $500,000 each to the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville.
The gift will be used to fund an endowed chair in pediatric diabetes research at each
school. The gift, in the form of proceeds from the locally legendary Barnstable-Brown
Derby Party, will be given in five increments of $100,000. The Research Challenge Trust
Fund established earlier this year by the state legislature, through the leadership of
Gov. Paul Patton, will match the gift so that each university will benefit by a total of
$1 million.
At the University of Kentucky, under the leadership of Kathryn Thrailkill, M.D.,
faculty members in the division of pediatric endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism have a
long-standing interest in several key components of diabetes research.
The gift will allow the continuation and expansion of research initiatives in pediatric
diabetes aimed at improved methods of treatment for type 1 diabetes mellitus, halting the
progression of disease in newly diagnosed cases of type 1 diabetes mellitus, and
preventing the onset of type 1 diabetes mellitus in susceptible individuals. Funds also
will be used to recruit and retain an internationally recognized physician scientist in an
area critical for advanced pediatric diabetes research. By enlarging the core of diabetes
researchers, the University of Kentucky can enhance its nationally renowned program in
diabetes care and research, expanding UK’s role as a leader in the field of diabetes
research. Recruitment of researchers in the areas of islet cell physiology, islet cell
transplantation, gene therapy, autoimmunity and/or immunology, combined with UK’s
existing strengths, would promote a scientific environment conducive to the rapid research
progress necessary to finding a cure for diabetes.
"This generous gift from the Barnstable and Brown families will enable us to move
forward in expanding diabetes research at the University of Kentucky," said UK
President Charles T. Wethington Jr. "We are indeed grateful for the opportunity to
endow a chair that will address this chronic childhood disease for Kentuckians and the
nation. Many children and their families come to the University of Kentucky seeking
answers and cures for some of the most devastating illnesses. It is our goal to provide
the best possible care for children and to seek ways to cure chronic illnesses."
In the United States, 130,000 children and adolescents and up to 500,000 individuals of
all ages are known to have type 1 diabetes mellitus. Moreover, each year
about 30,000 individuals in the United States develop type 1 diabetes, with over half
of these cases diagnosed in the pediatric and adolescent age ranges. This annual incidence
of disease is comparable to the combined incidence of all forms of childhood cancers,
making type 1 diabetes mellitus one of the most common chronic diseases of childhood. This
common disorder is associated with significant morbidity.
The University of Louisville gift will help support a new program of diabetes research
in the medical school’s pediatrics department. Larry Cook, M.D., chairman of U of
L’s pediatrics department, already is involved in recruiting world-class diabetes
researchers to the program. The gift might also be used to support members of the research
team, led by Suzanne Ildstad, M.D., who are working on treatments for juvenile diabetes.
Ildstad announced in October that she and her team would move its operation to U of L from
Allegheny University of the Health Sciences.
The Barnstable-Brown gift is particularly timely in light of recent efforts by the
federal government to incorporate $300 million in additional research funding over the
next five years for diabetes research. The sizable increase in the availability of
diabetes-related research grants through the National Institutes of Health will allow U of
L and UK and others to subsidize numerous programs in diabetes research.
David Brown, M.D., is a diabetes patient who recently underwent a liver transplant
necessitated by complications of his condition.
"Speaking as a diabetes patient," Brown said "and on behalf of all
diabetes patients in Kentucky, we look to the talent, knowledge and leadership of the
universities of Louisville and Kentucky to enlighten the medical community so that we can
be provided with a much-needed cure for this devastating disease."
David Brown, Patricia Barnstable-Brown and Priscilla Barnstable have strong ties to
both U of L and UK. David Brown is a 1961 graduate of the U of L medical school, and Brown
family members have long been backers and alums of the University of Louisville. Both
sisters are former UK cheerleaders and 1973 graduates.
"Endowing these chairs," said Patricia Barnstable-Brown, "is a wonderful
and exciting opportunity to give back to the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the City of
Louisville, both of which have supported our event and made it the success that it
is." |
