Update – May 30, 2008

Dear Colleagues,

I am writing to provide an update on the progress the Global Diabetes Alliance has made in the past 6 months.  I think you will find the Alliance we formed in late October 2007 has taken hold and is growing healthily.  Here is the overall picture:

1)    The Program Committee of the Magnuson Congress for a Global Diabetes Alliance (GDA) was charged to form a Steering Committee for the Alliance and did so.  It named Pierre Lefebvre President of the Alliance, Paul Robertson Chairman of the Steering Committee, and the following as members of this committee: Anoop Misra (India), George Alberti (England), Pedro Arroyo (Mexico), Pablo Aschner (Colombia), Knut Borch-Johnsen (Denmark), Stewart Harris (Canada), Ake Lernmark (Sweden), Dinky Levitt (South Africa), Linong Li (China), Sree Nair (US), Eugene Sobngwi (Cameroon), Paul Zimmit (Australia).  The committee had its first conference call to review plans to develop grant proposals emanating from the 5 workshops held during the Congress, as well as the establishment of a business infrastructure through which grant funds can be distributed to Alliance investigators.

2)   Norm Dicks, the US Congressman from Washington State who sponsored the $500,000 appropriation which funded the Magnuson Congress in 2007, has agreed to sponsor a new US Congressional appropriation for $4.8 million to be awarded for two years (2009, 2010).  If approved in winter, 2008, these funds will be used to support further congresses, administrative support for Alliance activities, and two specific research projects focused on American Indians in Washington State.

3)   Paul Robertson has submitted a second grant to the Washington State Life Sciences Development Fund for $1.8 million to support GDA-based clinical research with American Indians in Washington State.

4)   Anoop Misra is actively pursuing Indo-American financial support for a combined India-US project related to gestational diabetes and maternal health.  Pedro Arroyo is exploring funding opportunities in Mexico.  Carol Lammi-Keefe and Jaime Rozowski are pursuing funding opportunities in Chile.

5)   Peter Butler, the Editor-in-Chief of Diabetes, has invited Paul Zimmet and Paul Robertson to form an author group to write a Perspective on the global diabetes tsunami and how we should be approaching means to contain and reverse this epidemic.

6)   We now have an e-mail address for anyone who wishes to use it, for example, mine is rpr@global-diabetes.org.

7)   We are in the process of constructing a web site, www.global-diabetes.org

8)   Through the good offices of Matt Mattson, Tribal Administrator of the Snoqualmie Nation, we have assembled the necessary paperwork (bylaws, conflicts of interest forms) and formed a Board of Directors (essentially the Steering Committee) that has enabled Matt to file for establishment of not-for-profit status for the GDA.  This step, plus points 6 & 7 above, captures the name Global Diabetes Alliance for use by the GDA exclusively and provides a 501(c)3 status for receipt of research funds without having to pay US taxes.

9)   Several pharmaceutical companies (Merck, Lilly, Amylin) have been contacted and are considering our request for 3-year funding for the GDA to help us get initial financial footing.

10)  Chairs for the working groups that will develop research prospecti based on the information presented in the five workshops of the Magnuson Congress have been identified: Ake Lernmark, Epidemiology and Genetics; Robert Henry, Obesity and Insulin Resistance; Steve Carswell, Behavior and Education; Pablo Aschner, Chronic Complications, and under consideration, Beta Cell Function and Acute Complications. These individuals will select their working groups (I am certain volunteers will be welcomed!) and provide the leadership necessary to formulate initial brief prospecti for projects that can be carried out throughout the world designed to better understand diabetes clinical phenotypes and thereby direct more effective prevention treatment.  These proposals will then be used to pursue funding on an international basis.

That pretty much brings things up to date.  I hope to see many of you at the American Diabetes Association meeting in San Francisco next week.

Cheers,