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(May 18, 2011) – Finalizing the Be Part of the CURE campaign that ran last fall, the giant CURE banner was unfurled yesterday during a special ceremony held in the lobby of the Diabetes Research Institute. Addressing the organization’s faculty and staff who gathered for the celebration, Foundation President and CEO Robert A. Pearlman and DRI Scientific Director Dr. Camillo Ricordi emphasized our singular focus on discovering a cure for diabetes and how each person plays an important role in fulfilling that goal.
“This unique composition represents the hope of people around the world who participated in this campaign. This will be a reminder to all the scientists that walk in every day to go to their research laboratories, crossing the lobby with patients waiting here, how important our mission is and how it’s focused on a cure,” said Dr. Ricordi. “This is what makes the DRI so unique – the integral merging of research, clinical and education operations, and what makes this center second to none in the world. This is really a moment of pride for all of us.”
Mr. Pearlman thanked everyone who personally contributed to the campaign and passed it along to their family and friends. “We were extremely successful because of all of you and all the people out there who got involved. People uploaded stories about their children, their own personal stories, and their pictures. These will remain on the Internet and now they’re here in this building,” he said.
The Be Part of the Cure campaign ran from November 1 through December 31 and raised more than $63,000 for the Diabetes Research Institute, including a matching $25,000 gift from campaign sponsors Animas and LifeScan. The completed CURE collage, which contains more than 1,300 photos, will remain at BePartoftheCure.org.
At the campaign’s completion, Dr. Ricordi recorded a personal video message of thanks for all who contributed to the campaign. During that message, he re-iterated his now-famous proclamation: “We will cure diabetes. This is not a prediction; this is a promise.”
Each day, DRI scientists are getting closer to fulfilling this goal. Having already shown that diabetes can be reversed through cell replacement strategies, the DRI is aggressively working to shrink the timeline toward the discovery of a biological cure. The funds received from the Diabetes Research Institute Foundation through generous donations and campaigns, like Be Part of the CURE, are enabling our scientists to advance the newest technologies that have a real potential to deliver a cure for this disease.
If you’re in the Miami area, we invite you to visit the Diabetes Research Institute to view the CURE banner and take a tour. Please email us at info@drif.org to let us know of your plans.
