About Us
The Michigan Comprehensive Diabetes Center was established in 2005 to unite five research and clinical units that exemplify the University of Michigan’s strength in diabetic research, training and patient care. Each of our centers is made up of scientists and patient care providers who seek better understanding and treatment of all forms diabetes – type 1, type 2, gestational and pre-diabetes. Not only do we collaborate internally with other U-M divisions, we also are in the midst of building a national and international coalition with diabetes researchers and clinicians from around the world. This structure allows all diabetes experts - here at the U-M and beyond - to join forces and seamlessly work together with one goal: to accelerate the progress of finding a cure.
The Michigan Diabetes Research and Training Center: The MDRTC is led by Bill Herman, M.D., M.P.H., Stefan S. Fajans/GlaxoSmithKline Professor of Diabetes. The multidisciplinary Center is one of five Diabetes Research and Training Centers in the United States and has been funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1977. The MDRTC is instrumental in meeting the needs of investigators by supporting and strengthening U-M interdepartmental activities in research, training and outreach in the field of diabetes, its complications, and related endocrine and metabolic disorders.
The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Center for the Study of Complications in Diabetes: The JDRF is led by Eva Feldman, M.D., Ph.D., Russell N. DeJong Professor of Neurology. Founded in 2000, the JDRF Centerperforms laboratory research to find new ways to understand and treat two of the most devastating complications of diabetes: diabetic neuropathy (progressive nerve damage); and nephropathy (progressive damage to the kidneys). The Center is an essential part of the Program for Understanding Neurological Diseases.
The Brehm Center for Type 1 Diabetes Research and Analysis: This Center was founded in 2004 through a generous gift to the U-M from William and Delores Brehm. The stated goal of the center is to advance the pace towards the development of new treatments and cure(s) of all forms of diabetes with a particular emphasis on Type 1 diabetes. Several basic science areas have been identified as target areas of interest, including the biology of pancreatic islet cell function and survival and autoimmunity (because this affects both the development of the Type 1 diabetes as well as the ability to use transplantation therapies in treatment of this disease). Moreover, the Brehm Center intends to employ information science at multiple levels of the research enterprise, including bioinformatics, clinical data processing and communication technologies that will bridge the interests of diabetes researchers here at Michigan with those at like-minded diabetes centers nationally and internationally. Thus, the Brehm Center will partner with the CNA Corporation, a nonprofit research organization which provides objective research and analysis to solve a variety of public health issues. Their innovative approach will help to advance the landscape of diabetes research at the U-M and beyond. The Brehm Center will ultimately be housed in the new Kellogg Eye Center Expansion Project expected to be completed in 2010.
Animal Models of Diabetes Complications Consortium: The AMDCC, founded in 2001, is led by Frank (Chip) Brosius, M.D., chief of Nephrology, professor of Internal Medicine and professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology. The University of Michigan is part of a national consortium sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation that is developing and testing new animal models of diabetic complications to help researchers better test new theories and treatments.
Michigan Metabolomics and Obesity Center: The MMOC is led by director Charles Burant, M.D., Ph.D, Professor of Internal Medicine and Molecular & Integrative Physiology, and Adjunct Associate Professor for Kinesiology. The MMOC was created to serve as the focal point for the study of metabolism, metabolomics and obesity on the University campus. The Center seeks to facilitate interaction between researchers from across the University, enhance collaborative studies and speed the translation of basic science findings into clinically useful therapies for metabolic diseases including obesity, type 2 diabetes and related metabolic disorders. The latter will only become a reality through rational, innovative and cost-effective behavioral, clinical, epidemiological and health services research which is critical to the meaningful translation of discoveries in the pre-clinical arena.
