Published:
Celebrities Help Fund Kentucky Diabetes and Obesity Center
LEXINGTON, Ky., Nov. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Every year, the Kentucky Derby
brings celebrities from the worlds ofHollywood, sports and politics to
Kentucky for the first weekend in May. And, every year,Louisville, Ky.,
resident Patricia Barnstable Brown hosts the biggest, most extravagant,
star-studded Derby party in town -- the Barnstable Brown Gala.
Last year's attendees included Edward Norton, Tom Brady, Nick Lachey,
Molly Sims, Bill O'Reilly, Terrell Owens and Hugh Hefner. The annual celebrity
bash allows the Barnstable-Brown Foundation to support diabetes research,
education and patient care inKentucky, which ranks seventh in the nation for
prevalence of the disease.
Barnstable Brown announced today that proceeds from the sales of the
highly prized gala tickets -- which sell for $1,000 to $2,000 apiece -- will
be used to fund the development of the brand new Barnstable Brown Kentucky
Diabetes and Obesity Center at the University of Kentucky.
"I am thrilled that all of our gala supporters can step back and see the
wonderful work that the University of Kentucky is doing for diabetes," said
Barnstable Brown.
The large-scale, proposed center at the University of Kentucky will bring
together the university's breadth and depth of researchers, educators and
clinicians focused on diabetes and obesity and organize them to attack the
problem collaboratively and, therefore, faster.
"Kentucky needs few things more urgently," said Dr. Michael Karpf, the
university's executive vice president for health affairs. "Patricia Barnstable
Brown and her family are extraordinarily generous, and their gift takes us to
a different level. There are few places that can organize around such
critical health issues facing this country, so this really puts us in elite
territory."
The gala was initiated in 1988 by Barnstable Brown and twin sister
Priscilla Barnstable, formerWrigley's Doublemint twins who both were also
cheerleaders at the University of Kentucky.
Proceeds from the gala have always gone to further diabetes research and
care. Patricia Barnstable Brown's husband, Dr. David Brown, died from
complications of the disease in 2003. This year is the first time the
foundation has pledged funding to develop a center, and it has made the
University of Kentucky its sole beneficiary.
SOURCE University of Kentucky
Copyright © 2009, PRNewswire
Copyright © 2009, NewsBlaze,
Daily NewsTags: ,HED,HEA,ENT,SPT,EDU,NPT,KY-Derby-Charity
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