Brehm Professorships
The two named professorships below were made possible by generous gifts from William K. (Bill) and Delores S. (Dee) Brehm, whose personal mission is to apply the tools of research and analysis to find and deliver a cure for type 1 diabetes.
In addition to the Brehm professorships, Dee and Bill also have provided significant support for other University of Michigan diabetes efforts, such as the creation of an interdisciplinary team of University of Michigan Brehm Investigators. The Brehms have also contributed significant funding to establish the Brehm Center for Type 1 Diabetes Research and Analysis.
With these actions, the Brehms have armed the University of Michigan's Comprehensive Diabetes Center with the most advanced resources in the fight against diabetes.
William K. and Delores S. Brehm Professor of Type 1 Diabetes Research
Peter Arvan, M.D., Ph.D.Director, Michigan Comprehensive Diabetes Center
Chief, Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology & Diabetes
On October 21, 2004, the U-M Medical School inaugurated the William K. and Delores S. Brehm Professorship in Type 1 Diabetes Research, and installed Peter Arvan, M.D., Ph.D., as the first Brehm Professor. This professorship is the result of the profound generosity and commitment of William and Dolores "Dee" Brehm, whose involvement with the U-M Medical School began over 50 years ago when Dee, then a student at Eastern Michigan University, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at University Hospital.
The excellent care that Dee received then, together with Michigan’s longtime, stellar reputation for careful, intrepid research in the field of endocrine medicine and the Brehms’ fervent desire to help find a cure for the disease, led the Brehms to establish the professorship. Bill Brehm is chairman emeritus of SRA International, a pioneering information technology consulting and systems integration company based in Fairfax, Virginia.
Larry D. Soderquist Professorship
Ernesto Bernal-Mizrachi, M.D.Associate Professor of Internal Medicine
Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology & Diabetes
Larry D. Soderquist, the brother of Delores (Dee) Brehm, was one of the nation's most respected securities law scholars. He served as director of the Corporate and Securities Law Institute at Vanderbilt University Law School before his death from injuries he sustained in an auto accident. A native of Ypsilanti, Michigan, Mr. Soderquist was a graduate of Eastern Michigan University, where he received the bachelor's degree in 1966, and earned his law degree from Harvard University in 1969. In 1971, he joined the Wall Street law firm of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley and McCloy. In 1976, he left law practice to accept a faculty appointment at the University of Notre Dame Law School, followed by a one-year visiting professorship at Vanderbilt University. Mr. Soderquist's one-year appointment transitioned into a full-time tenured faculty position at that institution.
Mr. Soderquist taught and wrote on corporate and securities law. The textbooks and law review articles he wrote, along with the Practising Law Institute training programs he conducted around the country, led to Mr. Soderquist being recognized as one of the nation's foremost experts in securities law. Two of the most notable books he authored are Understanding the Securities Laws (an edition of which was published in the People's Republic of China in 2004) and Investor's Rights Handbook. In addition to eight books and numerous articles on law, for a time he wrote a weekly column for the Nashville Business Journal.
In addition to his well-recognized career in corporate law, Mr. Soderquist earned a doctor of ministry degree in 1998 from Trinity Theological Seminary in Newburgh, Indiana and was an ordained minister who preached occasionally. He was Belle Meade, Tennessee's first police chaplain, volunteered as a chaplain at the local veterans' hospital, and conducted gravesite services for indigents from the area.
This professorship serves as memorial to Mr. Soderquist and acknowledges the generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Brehm for their continued support for diabetes research at the University of Michigan.
