$16 million gift to university in honor of Barbara Edelman and for direct impact on diabetes care and research
The University of Kentucky’s Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center is proud to announce a transformative gift of $16 million from Bill Gatton’s foundation.
Ten million dollars of the gift will honor Mr. Gatton’s friend and advisor, Barbara B. Edelman, by establishing the Barbara B. Edelman Barnstable-Brown Endowed Faculty Fund.
“I, along with my entire family, are grateful that Mr. Gatton’s foundation would honor me and support the Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center,” said Barbara Barnstable Edelman.
“This gift, like all of his others, will help countless Kentuckians. There are no words to properly express my gratitude.”
The center was established in 2008 by the Barnstable Brown family, from funds from its celebrity-laden Derby Eve Gala, and the family has continued to annually support the center.
“The generous gift from The Bill Gatton Foundation, a testament to Mr. Gatton’s enduring legacy, will have a profound impact on the health of the Commonwealth,” said University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto. “This investment will expand our research capacity, enhance patient outreach and drive innovation in diabetes care.”
“The Bill Gatton Foundation’s remarkable gift is evidence of their commitment to improving the lives of the people of Kentucky,” said Simon Fisher, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center. “A significant portion of the funding is dedicated to investing in talent that will be necessary to deliver exceptional diabetes care. The Bill Gatton Foundation will provide funding to students, professors and others to help build a pipeline of diabetes care specialists as well as recruit the best physicians and brightest scientists to the University of Kentucky.”
The $16 million gift is split into three main categories:
Expanding research and clinical care (Endowed Faculty Fund);
Expanding patient education and outreach through workforce development; and
Funding the next breakthrough in diabetes care and treatment by establishing an innovation fund.
Bill Gatton, a 1954 graduate of the university’s College of Commerce and went on to become an incredibly successful businessman, entrepreneur and investor.
The foundation’s gift to the Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center is the latest in a series of generous donations from Mr. Gatton that have transformed the university, including record-breaking gifts to the Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment, Gatton College of Business and Economics, the university’s Gatton Student Center and scholarships for students with unmet financial need through the UK LEADS initiative.
UK HealthCare is the hospitals and clinics of the University of Kentucky. But it is so much more.
It is more than 10,000 dedicated health care professionals committed to providing advanced subspecialty care for the most critically injured and ill patients from the Commonwealth and beyond. It also is the home of the state’s only National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, a Level IV Neonatal Intensive Care Unit that cares for the tiniest and sickest newborns, the region’s only Level 1 trauma center and Kentucky’s top hospital ranked by U.S. News & World Report.
Barbara B. Edelman is a partner in the Lexington office of Dinsmore & Shohl. She serves on the firm’s Board of Directors and its Executive Committee, and also heads the Litigation Department in the Lexington office. She is a 1977 graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Law and in 1974 earned her B.B.A. degree with Honors from the College of Business.
She began her legal career in the Special Prosecutions Division of the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office. She also served as Director of Litigation for the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government. Barbara was appointed to serve as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the E.D. of KY where she prosecuted federal court cases and handled many high-profile cases involving white collar crime, murder for hire and public corruption.
In 1987, she entered private practice and established herself as one of the premiere commercial litigators in Kentucky. Barbara is listed in Best Lawyers Appellate Law, Bet the Company, and Commercial Litigation. She is listed in Kentucky’s Super Lawyers; Kentucky’s Super Lawyers Top 25 Women; Kentucky’s Super Lawyers Top 50 Lawyers in the State; Benchmark Litigation as a “Local Litigation Star”; and Top 250 Women in Litigation in the Nation.
She is the 2012 recipient of the Fayette County Bar Association’s highest honor, the Henry T. Duncan Award. She is also a past President of the Fayette County Women Lawyers Association and the University of Kentucky College of Law Alumni Association.
Edelman has tried more than 50 cases in state and federal courts and has argued more than 35 cases to the Kentucky Court of Appeals, Kentucky Supreme Court, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth District.