The Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine has received a $1 million gift from the Birmingham-based Diabetes Trust Foundation to further its studies into the disease that affects both humans and animals.
“We are very appreciative of the gift,” said Dr. Timothy Boosinger, veterinary dean. “Most of the money will go into an existing endowment and the rest will be used immediately toward our research efforts.”
He says $900,000 will be added to the Boshell Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases Research Program Endowment that was created in 2001, bringing the total to $1.9 million. Interest from the account is used to support various diabetes research projects. Auburn will apply the remaining $100,000 toward research equipment and supplies.
The Diabetes Trust Foundation was founded in 1964 by Dr. Buris R. Boshell and his friends and colleagues. The foundation built the Diabetes Research and Education Hospital at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and in 1985 it was named the Buris R. Boshell, M.D. Diabetes Research and Education Hospital. Dr. Boshell, who died in 1995, was a 1947 Auburn agriculture graduate who attended the veterinary college for two years before transferring to Harvard Medical School. He served from 1959 to 1989 on the faculty of the UAB Medical Center before moving to the Boshell Diabetes and Endocrine Center at Medical Center East in 1990.
“We are confident that the work of Auburn’s research program will have a profound impact on improved treatment and research in diabetes,” said Cindy Brown, Diabetes Trust Foundation president. “Since its inception, the foundation has contributed more than $35 million toward diabetes research and programs to make life better for diabetics across our nation.”
The disease occurs in humans and animals when the body doesn’t produce enough insulin or cannot properly utilize it. This makes it difficult for blood sugar to enter the body’s cells, and if left untreated, it can lead to blindness, kidney failure, stroke, amputations, and the increased risk of cardiovascular disease. It is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States.
“Diabetes is a devastating disease that affects more than 20 million people in the United States, and a third of them do not realize they have it,” said Dr. Robert Judd, the Boshell Chair in Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases in the veterinary college. “It can strike at any age."
