U of M receives $40 million for type 1 diabetes research

Wednesday, December 10th, 2008

The Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation has pledged $40 million for diabetes research to the University of Minnesota. The gift, to be paid over five years, will capitalize on the University’s strength in diabetes research and aims to shorten the timeline for translating it into a cure for people with type 1 diabetes.

The gift is the second largest in the University’s history and the second largest by an individual or family foundation to diabetes research in the United States. In recognition of the gift and the future of diabetes research, the University will rename its Diabetes Institute for Immunology and Transplantation (DIIT) the Schulze Diabetes Institute.

“We have the capacity to cure this devastating disease and help people enjoy a happy and productive life no longer constrained by diabetes and constant fears and worries,” says Bernhard Hering, M.D., an internationally recognized diabetes researcher and scientific director of the Schulze Diabetes Institute. “Curing type 1 diabetes is possible. We only need to declare it possible, engage the brightest minds, be contagiously committed, and break all barriers. This gift is breaking big barriers by boosting resources, raising awareness, and injecting a sense of urgency and responsibility.”

Click here for the full article on the Minnesota Medical Foundation website »