$30 million grant to create research center
The Valley Baptist Legacy Foundation has awarded a $30 million grant to UTRGV to establish the Diabetes Center of Excellence, following an application for the funds.
Slated to be built in Harlingen near the UTRGV Institute of Neuroscience, the center will include a Limb Preservation Clinic, which will receive $12 million from the grant, and work collaboratively with the UTRGV School of Podiatric Medicine.
The center plans to conduct research in order to combat diabetes, while providing services to the community to treat and manage the illness.
The Limb Preservation Clinic will work to prevent amputations for patients with diabetes.
Judy Quisinberry, executive director of the Valley Baptist Legacy Foundation, said it is important for the center to be built in the Rio Grande Valley.
โWe are the most diabetic area in the state,โ Quisinberry said. โWeโre well-poised to be the center at which is trying to kind of attack it comprehensively. So, I think itโs exactly the right place.โ
She believes establishing this institution in the Valley is important because it will increase Hispanic representation in diabetes research.
โPeople have researched other populations throughout the U.S., but we are living in a predominantly Hispanic community that doesnโt have as much research base,โ Quisinberry said.
She said the Valley Baptist Legacy Foundation is proud to partner with UTRGV through its investments.
โAll it does is bolster the Rio Grande Valley to be a stronger educational force in comparison to the rest of the state,โ Quisinberry said.
Dr. Javier La Fontaine, dean of the School of Podiatric Medicine, said the center will provide opportunities for students to help patients in the Valley as well as further their careers.
La Fontaine said the center will be a collaborative effort from many colleges and schools within UTRGV, such as the School of Podiatric Medicine, the School of Medicine, the School of Social Work, the School of Nursing and the School of Health Professions.
He said students will be able to train in the clinic and gain experience in diabetes treatment and limb preservation.
โPretty much โฆ a large majority of the students in UTRGV is going to be able to somehow play a role,โ La Fontaine said.
The dean said students in the School of Podiatric Medicine will have the chance to spend their clinical rotation in the center, where they will gain hands-on experience by shadowing doctors working with patients.
โWhen they graduate and they move on and go somewhere else in Texas, hopefully, they can bring that experience and provide that care in the area where they go to end up,โ La Fontaine said.
Nidhin John, a podiatric medicine doctoral student, is the social media chair for the American College of Podiatric Medicine.
John said the students at the UTRGV School of Podiatric Medicine are โecstatic.โ
He said before becoming a student at the university, he never imagined he would receive an opportunity like this one.
โMy family has a background of diabetes, where my grandpa lost his toes due to diabetes, so I was ecstatic that I might one day be able to save a limb for somebody in the Valley here,โ John said.
He said the center will be beneficial to patients because it will reduce their burden of needing to travel.
โThe next closest limb salvage clinic that we have is in Dallas,โ John said. โSo, proximitywise โฆ the whole Valley is going to โฆ benefit from, you know, having something in Harlingen because they donโt have to travel as much. You can โฆ save a lot more limbs here than traveling them out and having that extra baggage of, like, โI have to travel โฆ to go somewhere that is beneficial to me.โโ
–Carlos Castaรฑeda contributed to this report.
