Albert A. Delia • Director of Federal Relations • Office of the Chancellor

East Carolina University • Willis Building • 300 East First Street • Greenville, NC  27858-4353

Phone: 301-724-2342 or 252-328-6650, ext. 240 • Fax: 252-328-4356 • E-mail: deliaa@mail.ecu.edu • www.ecu.edu/rds/

Two of every three Americans are overweight. Twenty-three million Americans are morbidly obese—that is, they weigh at 100 pounds more than their ideal weight.

These people are limited not only by their bulk, but they also suffer other life-threatening diseases. Many develop diabetes, hypertension, cardiopulmonary failure, crippling arthritis, swelling of the brain, incontinence and infertility.

In only a few years, deaths from obesity rose to 400,000 annually, 10 times the number of deaths from motor vehicle accidents.

For medical experts, the answers may lie in research that focuses on cellular metabolism, or the basic interactions of molecules in the human body.

This approach to research has revealed dazzling biologic networks that function with complex signals, interlocking proteins, functional scaffolds that interact like the most complex computer systems ever built.

East Carolina University is a leader in this field. The Brody School of Medicine already has earned a reputa

tion as a pioneer in robotic heart surgery, in research involving change in muscle fibers due to obesity, in studies that look at signals from the intestines that cause diabetes, and differences in obesity among races.

But to continue to probe these critically necessary medical fields, ECU faculty need access to new technologies that allow molecular modeling, testing of concepts in a clinical research center, sophisticated computer resources, and an ability to translate academic advances into clinical realities.

These tools will allow ECU to improve health, expand education and create new jobs in eastern North Carolina.

A national Institute for Diabetes,

Obesity and Metabolism at ECU Brody School of Medicine would go far beyond the support of the current successful research program.

It also will fill a critical need: providing outpatient facilities that provide for the health care needs of the people of North Carolina, as well as modern facilities to educate health care professionals.

The result would be more efficient and compassionate clinics, integrated laboratories, and the infrastructure for regional education, prevention and the pursuit of excellence in delivery of care.

 

February 2005