University of Michigan

Promoting Health and Well-Being

The Brehm Tower at the W.K. Kellogg Eye Center:
Focused on care and research

The Brehm Tower stands adjacent to the existing Kellogg Eye Center research tower and features 230,000 square feet of space, including seven eye-care clinics, surgical suites, open laboratories and the Brehm Center for Diabetes Research.

Hundreds of faculty, staff and donors gathered April 23 to dedicate the Brehm Tower at the W.K. Kellogg Eye Center, a new facility just northwest of the Medical Center that will expand the University of Michigan’s capacity for care and research related to eye disease and diabetes.

The eight-story tower stands adjacent to the existing Kellogg Eye Center research tower and features 230,000 square feet of space, including seven eye-care clinics, surgical suites, open laboratories and the Brehm Center for Diabetes Research. The facility was made possible by a 2004 leadership gift from Bill Brehm (BS ’50, MS ’52) and his wife, Dee, of McLean, Va., who was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes and treated at the U-M roughly five decades ago, as well as many donors to the Kellogg Eye Center expansion.

“We started with the goal of accelerating diabetes research, but our approach was to go beyond creating bricks and mortar and to foster a new paradigm in how medical research is conducted,” said Bill Brehm.

The Brehm Tower comes online as eye disease and vision loss exact a cost to U.S. society estimated at $68 billion annually.

“We often say that we can help patients one at a time in the clinic, but we can help the world in our labs,” said Dr. Paul R. Lichter (AB ’60, MD ’64, MDRES ’68, MS ’68), the U-M’s chair of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences and director of the Kellogg Eye Center. “That’s what we will do in this new building.”

That work will be enhanced through a recent $1.4 million gift from the Dryer Charitable Foundation, establishing the Edward T. and Ellen K. Dryer Foundation Inaugural Endowed Career Development Professorship in Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences as well as an endowed research fund. Both will support the work of a junior faculty member.

And with vision and diabetes researchers located in the same building, opportunities for collaboration abound. People with diabetes are especially prone to eye disease and are at risk for the loss of some or all of their sight due to a condition known as diabetic retinopathy. They are also more susceptible to developing glaucoma and cataracts. Under the direction of Dr. Peter Arvan, the William K. and Delores S. Brehm Professor of Type 1 Diabetes Research, chief of the U-M’s Division of Metabolism, Endicronology & Diabetes and director of the University’s Comprehensive Diabetes Center, the Brehm Center for Diabetes Research has attracted 11 researchers to Michigan in recent years with lead funding from its namesakes.

“We owe a particular debt of gratitude to Bill and Dee Brehm,” said President Mary Sue Coleman. “Thank you for your faith in our research. You’re helping us touch more lives than you will ever know.”

More Stories