by Roya Alt
City of Hope has received a $20 million gift from the Leslie and Susan Gonda (Goldschmied) Foundation to support construction of a four-story addition to the Leslie and Susan Gonda (Goldschmied) Diabetes and Genetic Research Center.
The center houses City of Hope’s comprehensive diabetes research and treatment programs. The new addition will encompass areas for programs that integrate studies into diabetes, metabolic disease and other related conditions.
“City of Hope has played a seminal role in the research and treatment of diabetes, a disease that affects more than 20 million Americans,” said Michael A. Friedman, M.D., president and chief executive officer. “This visionary gift from the Leslie and Susan Gonda (Goldschmied) Foundation will accelerate City of Hope’s efforts to advance diabetes treatment through innovative clinical and basic science research and explore promising scientific approaches that could potentially lead to a cure.”
About 20.8 million children and adults in the United States — 7 percent of the population — have diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association. While about 14.6 million have been diagnosed with diabetes, another 6.2 million people are unaware that they have the disease.
“The Leslie and Susan Gonda (Goldschmied) Foundation’s support will enable City of Hope to expand our research and advance innovative diabetes therapies,” said Fouad R. Kandeel, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Department of Diabetes, Endocrinology & Metabolism. “This new addition to our facility will allow us to further our research efforts in diabetes and other related diseases.”
City of Hope has contributed significantly to diabetes research and treatment. In the 1940s, the late Rachmiel Levine, Ph.D., described insulin’s role in stimulating the transport of glucose into cells and discovered that type 2 diabetes is related to a defect in this mechanism. In the late 1960s, Samuel Rahbar, Ph.D., recognized hemoglobin-A1c measurement as a marker for blood glucose control. In 1978, Arthur Riggs, Ph.D., and Keiichi Itakura, Ph.D., genetically engineered bacteria to produce unlimited quantities of synthetic human insulin.
City of Hope also advances islet cell transplantation, an investigational treatment in which insulin-producing cells (islet cells) are transplanted from a donor pancreas into patients with diabetes. City of Hope is one of only seven islet cell resource centers funded by the National Institutes of Health. The institution also hosts the Southern California Islet Cell Consortium and performs most of the consortium’s transplant procedures. In 2006, City of Hope was designated as a Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation islet cell transplant center.
“City of Hope’s diabetes research program is an outstanding example of visionary work and a successful collaborative atmosphere,” said Leslie Gonda.
The Leslie and Susan Gonda (Goldschmied) Foundation was established in 1988 and is dedicated to the memory of family members lost during the Holocaust. Over the past 20 years, the foundation has focused on advancing medical research that meets the ongoing challenges of patient care. The Gondas have ensured the advancement of medicine in the treatment of diabetes and vascular disease at major medical institutions and universities around the world.