U.S., Ireland to tackle diabetes

A center will be created in Ireland with a projected $25 million budget over five years. Irish and U.S. officials said the project was developed following the U.S.-Ireland Business Summit held in Washington, D.C., in September of 2002.
“This is a huge opportunity that combines scientist from the Republic, the North and the U.S. with industry to help solve a serious problem,” said Dr. William C. Harris, director general of Science Foundation Ireland.
SFI will oversee a competition to fund scientists from the U.S. and Ireland who will work together to develop internationally competitive research clusters allied to industries in diabetes research.
“Because Ireland is an island, there are unique attributes to the genetics here; in much the same way as Iceland, you find unique DNA identities,” making research into some of the genetic causes of diabetes easier to track, Harris said.
That DNA identification is important. According to the American Diabetes Association, diabetes does not seem to be inherited in a simple pattern. Identical twins have identical genes. Yet when one twin has type 1 diabetes, the other gets the disease at most only half the time
“The predictions for diabetes worldwide for the next 20 or 30 years are really daunting,” said Mark Pereira, assistant professor of epidemiology in the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health, who studies diabetes and obesity. “It will lead to some bankruptcies in the health care industry.”
The World Health Organization estimates 240 million people will suffer from diabetes world wide over the next few years.
“Obesity, on the other hand, annually causes an estimated 300,000 deaths and triggers at least $100 billion in medical expenditures,” Pereira said.
Susan Davis, a public relations contractor for HHS and the chairwoman for the U.S.-Ireland Business Summit, said she is excited about the collaboration.
“This program is the biggest deliverable to come out of the business summit,” she said. Significant support, she said, will come from private companies.
The announcement will be made in the morning on Tuesday, Jan. 18. Later that day there will be a celebration at the Irish embassy. Ireland’s ambassador to the US, Noel Fahey, will host a gathering in honor of Thompson, who is leaving the Bush cabinet.
Thompson, a former governor of Wisconisn, announced his departure from HHS in December. According to embassy officials, Fahey plans to acknowledge Thompson’s efforts to build stronger relations between Ireland and the U.S.
According to embassy officials, the timing will allow some of Secretary Thompson’s fellow Wisconsin GOP supporters in town for the presidential inauguration to also attend the embassy function.