Bill & Dee Brehm (front) with Dean Allen S. Lichter, UMHS CEO Robert Kelch, Brehm Prof. Peter Arvan, MDRTC Director William Herman, & Internal Med. Chair Marc Lippman.

What is the Brehm Gift?

On November 22, 2004, the University of Michigan Health System announced an extraordinary gift from a pair of extraordinary people: $44 million from Bill and Dee Brehm of McLean, VA, to work toward a cure for Type I diabetes.

Dee, who has lived with Type I diabetes for nearly 55 years since her diagnosis in a U-M hospital, and Bill, a U-M alumnus and information technology leader, chose Michigan for its atmosphere of discovery, innovation and collaboration.

The gift will fund a new research, new faculty and a new facility. But even more, it will catalyze a new and different framework for Type I diabetes research that's based on laboratory and clinical discovery, accelerated by unprecedented use of systems analysis and information technology, and fed by true interdisciplinary cooperation.

We hope you will explore this site to learn more about the Brehms and their gift, about diabetes research and care at the University of Michigan, and about diabetes in general.

As the University embarks on this new initiative, guided by the vision and generosity of the Brehms, we look forward to putting the best minds and resources into fighting a disease that affects more than 1.3 million Americans and countless others worldwide.