UM gets record gift for celiac disease research

( Kim Hairston, Baltimore Sun / October 27, 2010 )

Doctors at the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research have received a major boost in their efforts to find new treatments, and even a cure, for the autoimmune disease - a $45 million donation that is a record for the university system.

The donation, directed by the family of a grateful patient from Indiana, will be announced Oct. 28 by the center's director, Dr. Alessio Fasano.Fasano said the money will be used to create a first-of-its-kind institute that could eventually employ up to 200 doctors and researchers. They will not only study the often-misdiagnosed celiac disease but use it as a model to study other related diseases, including diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis.

"Finding enough money is always a problem," Fasano said in an interview about the donation. "What we really need for a major breakthrough is thinking out of the box, and this will allow us to do just that."