On March 1, the first eye patients entered an innovative new $132 million facility that expands the U-M Health System’s capacity for eye care, research and education, and unites diabetes researchers as they work to accelerate the search for a cure and prevention of diabetes.
The Brehm Tower at the W.K. Kellogg Eye Center Complex includes 230,000 square feet spanning eight stories and makes a striking addition to the skyline of the medical campus. It is adjacent to the existing Kellogg Eye Center research tower on Wall Street in Ann Arbor.
The new building houses seven eye care clinics with new suites for refractive surgery and cosmetic surgery. On the upper floors, the Brehm Center for Diabetes Research, and laboratories for vision scientists, will foster discoveries in both ophthalmology and diabetes.
“Eye disease and diabetes both pose growing challenges to our nation’s health, and Kellogg and Brehm scientists will help us continue to lead the way in both fields,” says Dr. Ora Hirsch Pescovitz, executive vice president for medical affairs and chief executive officer of UMHS.
On April 23, UMHS will formally dedicate the building with a “Dedicated to Discovery” ceremony featuring tours of the building, musical celebrations, conferences for ophthalmologists and diabetes researchers, and a dedication event with remarks by Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, and Dr. Paul Sieving, director of the National Eye Institute.
Architecture firm TSA of Massachusetts created a building that is modern in design but incorporates features to create a warm and welcoming environment. Large windows and a full wall of glass panels on the building’s facade allow natural light to fill the clinics and common space, of particular benefit to patients whose vision is impaired.
“Construction of the new building, just across the river from the main medical campus, is an important part of our master plan and expansion of our system,” says Douglas Strong, director and chief executive officer of the U-M Hospitals and Health Centers.
Clinics have space for patient education and comfortable waiting areas designed to aid patient flow. Research areas feature open laboratories to encourage collaboration and provide flexibility as research projects grow.
“Creating this clinical care and research facility shows confidence in the ground-breaking work undertaken by our scientists and the impact they will have on future treatment options,” says Dr. James Woolliscroft, dean of the Medical School.
“This project has significantly expanded the Eye Center, allowing us to serve a rapidly growing and aging patient population and expand the critical mass of scientists needed to advance research aimed at preserving vision,” says Dr. Paul Lichter, chair of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences and director of the Kellogg Eye Center.
Made possible by part of a gift given to the Medical School by Delores and William Brehm in 2004, the building also serves as the main laboratory component of the Comprehensive Diabetes Center. The gift was motivated by the couple’s desire to find a cure for Type 1 diabetes, the disease that Mrs. Brehm has been coping for 60 years.
“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,” Bill Brehm says.
The Brehm Center spaces feature an open laboratory layout to encourage collaboration, shared procedure and equipment areas, a central connecting staircase and centrally located lab services. It also houses cutting-edge facilities for communication and data-sharing among diabetes researchers throughout U-M and beyond.
“Like in any vibrant and growing medical center, research space is terribly precious and scarce,” says Dr. Peter Arvan, the Brehm Professor of Type 1 Diabetes Research, chief of the Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology & Diabetes and director of the Comprehensive Diabetes Center. “Bill Brehm has jump-started the process of making Michigan the leading national center for diabetes research.”
