September 15, 2006

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Establishment of the Comprehensive Diabetes Center at UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) was approved today by the University of Alabama System Board of Trustees, meeting in Tuscaloosa.

The center will be directed on an interim basis by Edward Abraham, M.D., chair of the Department of Medicine at the UAB School of Medicine, who will lead a national search for a highly qualified scientist to assume the center’s leadership position. The UAB Diabetes Center will be housed on the 12th floor of the Richard C. and Annette N. Shelby Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Building.

A UAB-Community partnership is under way to raise funds to support the creation of a major diabetes research and treatment program at UAB. Nearly $9 million has been raised and will be used to hire a permanent director and six additional faculty members, as well as to provide additional funding to support the center’s operating costs during its start-up years, before it is able to generate its own funding, Abraham said.

“There are many people in the community to thank for their contributions to helping to find improved ways to care for people with diabetes and to work toward a cure for it,” he said. He specifically thanked David Silverstein, Benny LaRussa and Robin Sparks, who are chairing the community effort, and major donors Nancy Gwaltney of Alexander City, Ala., and the Diabetes Trust Foundation.

The new Diabetes Center will assemble scientists and clinicians from many disciplines to collaborate on translating basic medical discoveries into effective therapies. Existing units that will collaborate include the departments of Medicine, Surgery, Pediatrics, Nutrition Sciences, Pathology, Cell Biology and Genetics.