A cure for Type 1 diabetes in six years is the new goal of City of Hope’s Diabetes and Metabolism Research Institute. Through the generosity of Ashley Furniture president and CEO Todd R. Wanek and others, the institution will be able to devote more than $50 million over the next six years to an innovative research effort that seeks to find a cure for T1D.
The family’s gift will establish the Wanek Family Project for Type 1 Diabetes at City of Hope.
City of Hope, which has a long and groundbreaking history in diabetes, conducted research that led to the development of synthetic human insulin by Arthur D. Riggs, Ph.D., in 1978. Insulin is still used today by an estimated 1.5 million Americans with type 1 diabetes, (T1D) and 27 million with type 2 diabetes (T2D).
The project will create a series of highly-focused programs based at City of Hope that will use an integrated approach to curing T1D, including immunotherapy approaches, as well as research into beta cell transplantation and preventing the body from rejecting those insulin secreting cells.
“City of Hope is best positioned to take on this challenge,” said Robert W. Stone, president and chief executive officer of City of Hope. “This is thanks to our 40-year institutional legacy of pioneering treatment and research advances in diabetes.
“City of Hope is extremely grateful for the Wanek family’s significant gift that will enable the institution to forward type 1 diabetes research, the results of which will have worldwide impact,” Stone added. “We invite others to join the Wanek family and City of Hope as we continue to move even closer to a cure for type 1 diabetes.”
“City of Hope scientists’ research has revolutionized the understanding and treatment of diabetes,” said Todd Wanek, CEO of Ashley Furniture, speaking on behalf of his family. “It continues today as physicians and scientists gain systemic understanding of diabetes as a complex, multifaceted disease.
“Our family is extremely confident that City of Hope is the institution that will find a cure for the more than 1 million Americans who battle type 1 diabetes disease every day,” Wanek said.
