$1.5M funding for diabetes research chair

Edmonton, AB – The University of Alberta and the Alberta Diabetes Foundation say a $1.5 million donation from philanthropist Peter Allard will enable the university to create the Dr Charles A Allard Chair in Diabetes Research, a position named in honor of the donor’s late father and renowned Edmonton surgeon.

The chair will be held by the new scientific director of the Alberta Diabetes Institute, Dr Ronald Gill, a recent recruit from the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diseases at the University of Colorado.

The university is also seeking $1.5 million in matched funds from the government of Alberta’s Access to the Future Fund, an endowment used to launch new and innovative postsecondary initiatives. Fully funded at $3 million, the endowment income from the chair will fund the chair holder’s educational and research activities.

With a background in immunology focused on tissue and organ transplantation, Dr Gill arrives in time for the 2008 opening of the new Alberta Diabetes Institute. The facility will be home to an interdisciplinary group of researchers and educators committed to leading the world in curing diabetes. The new institute will be housed in one of two new health research buildings now under construction at the university.