FOR RELEASE: Sept. 14, 2006

GALVESTON, Texas — Health professionals from all over Texas will converge on Galveston September 15 and 16 for a diabetes conference that will offer them the latest training for instructing patients with the disease how to better manage their symptoms. Major funding for the New Developments in Diabetes Care conference, sponsored by the University of Texas Medical Branch’s Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Diabetes Center and Office of Continuing Education, is made possible by the Emmett and Miriam McCoy Foundation.

Held this year at the Galveston Island Convention Center, the fourth annual conference routinely attracts nurses, physicians and allied health professionals across the state and guest lecturers from throughout the nation. Some 150 people attended last year.

Diabetes is an incurable but treatable disease that prevents the body from producing or properly using insulin, the hormone needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy. There are two types of diabetes: People with type 1 cannot produce insulin, while type 2 hinders the body from properly using the hormone.

The American Diabetes Association reports that approximately 17 million people in the United States have diabetes, and according to the Texas Diabetes Council, an estimated 1.2 million adults in the state have been diagnosed with the disease. It is the sixth-leading cause of death in Texas, claiming more than 5,600 lives in 2003. While its causes are still unknown, researchers have found that genetics and environmental factors, such as sedentary lifestyles, play significant roles in type 2 diabetes. Genetics may influence the occurrence of type 1 diabetes as well.

Dr. Kevin H. McKinney, course director of the diabetes conference and director of adult clinical endocrinology at the UTMB Stark Diabetes Center, said the McCoy Foundation helps Texans with diabetes to learn about the latest techniques for managing the disease. “The key to living with diabetes is good management,” McKinney said. “The McCoys’ generous gift to our conference helps us inform patient educators about newer, more effective care regimens that will help improve disease management skills of their patients.”

The McCoy Foundation made a $25,000 contribution to not only support the conference but also maintain efforts at the Stark Diabetes Center to inform health care providers of innovations in diabetes management via an online continuing education program and onsite training throughout the year.

In addition, the foundation gave $75,000 this year to fund diabetes research involving stem cells — early cells that divide and form different kinds of cells. UTMB researchers are working to transform stem cells into insulin-producing islet cells. The stem cells used in these diabetes studies come from the umbilical cord blood of human placentas that are normally discarded after birth.

The results of UTMB stem cell research could lead to significantly improving the lives of patients with type 1 diabetes, freeing them from painful daily insulin injections or wearing insulin pumps. The pager-sized pump distributes insulin into the body via a thin tube and needle inserted just beneath the skin. Presently, the only source of islet cells is from transplants, and those receiving such transplants must undergo immune suppression therapy for the rest of their lives to prevent rejection of the new cells.

Dr. Randall J. Urban, executive director of the Stark Diabetes Center and chair of UTMB’s Department of Internal Medicine, said the McCoy Foundation has been a strong supporter of ongoing diabetes studies at the academic health center. “Miriam and Emmett McCoy have been tireless in their contributions and advocacy for diabetes research,” Urban said. “We owe them a great deal of gratitude for helping us reach the cusp of a potential cure for type 1 diabetes.” Urban holds the Edward Randall and Edward Randall Jr. Distinguished Chair in Internal Medicine.

UTMB President John D. Stobo said he appreciated the confidence the McCoys have demonstrated in the university’s diabetes care and research. “The McCoy Foundation provides not only financial resources to our research and patient educator programs but also the affirmation and encouragement so highly valued by our researchers and health care professionals,” Stobo said. “Through the McCoys’ generosity, interest and involvement, they have significantly helped advance our knowledge of this devastating disease.”

Emmett McCoy and his wife, Miriam, who has been living with type 1 diabetes for 40 years, created their San Marcos-based foundation in 1993. The president and chief executive officer of McCoy’s Building Supply Centers from 1950 to 1997, Emmett McCoy opened McCoy Supply Co. in the 1940s with his father, selling roofing materials to the public in the Houston-Galveston area. Today, the company is one of the largest family-owned businesses in the home improvement industry. The McCoys’ foundation is separate from the corporation.

In addition to supporting diabetes research and educational programs at UTMB, the McCoys recently made the final payment of their $450,000 pledge toward the purchase of a mass spectrometer, a device that will help the university’s researchers develop better treatments and more accurate diagnostic procedures for the disease.

Established by the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation of Orange, the Stark Diabetes Center opened in 2001 and is dedicated to advancing diabetes care, especially in Southeast Texas.

The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
Public Affairs Office
301 University Boulevard, Suite 3.102
Galveston, Texas 77555-0144
www.utmb.edu