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Press Releases | In the Press For Immediate Release Contact: Heather Cable/Laura Feragen 215-793-4666 heather@toplin.com laura@toplin.com DR. ROBERT C. ATKINS FOUNDATION AWARDS NEARLY $3 MILLION FOR METABOLISM AND NUTRITION RESEARCH JENKINTOWN, Pa. - Sept. 6, 2006 - The Dr. Robert C. Atkins Foundation has recently awarded $2.97 million in new funding to advance research in nutrition and metabolism. The grants support professorships, clinical studies and individual investigators. The Foundation awarded a $2 million gift to Tufts University School of Medicine for "The Dr. Robert C. and Veronica Atkins Professorship in Metabolism and Nutrition" to fund research into the role of metabolism and nutrition in managing obesity and Type II diabetes. Tufts becomes the eighth leading academic medical center to receive such funding from the Atkins Foundation since 2004, joining Washington University (St. Louis), Columbia, Cornell, Michigan, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas Southwestern and Duke University medical schools, and bringing the Foundation's total endowments to $15.5 million. Each of these professorships supports the teaching and research efforts of an outstanding investigator with the goal of positively impacting the health of individuals in their communities and beyond. In addition to the Tufts chair, the Atkins Foundation has also recently awarded a $450,000 gift to the Department of Kinesiology Research Fund at the University of Connecticut Neag School of Education. The grant, which provides $150,000 annually over the next three academic years, will enhance the department's research capabilities in further investigating the effects of low-carbohydrate diets. Also, the Foundation has established a fellowship at Washington University School of Medicine, awarding $143,000 to Dr. Charles Lambert for his ongoing study: "Efficacy of the Atkins Diet in the Elderly." Studies recently funded by the Atkins Foundation include "High Fat Diets in Amyloid-Plaque-Forming Mice and Their Effect on the Brain," at Thomas Jefferson University's Farber Institute for Neurosciences, which examines the relationship between diet and Alzheimer's disease, and "Optimizing Diet for Weight Loss Success in the Individual Breast Cancer Survivor," at the University of Arizona. "These recent awards are important steps forward in the Atkins Foundation's mission to improve world health through metabolic and nutritional approaches to effective disease management and prevention," said Veronica Atkins, chair of the Dr. Robert C. Atkins Foundation. "I am excited about the possible findings this research may yield, and know that we're laying important groundwork for advances in the scientific community and general public's understanding of diabetes, obesity and other serious health issues confronting our society today." # # # Established with a $40 million gift in August 2003, the Dr. Robert C. Atkins Foundation provides grants to support independent scientific, evidence-based and clinical research that examines the role of metabolism and nutrition in obesity, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease and other serious health concerns. One of the few grant-making organizations dedicated to research in this arena, it also supports educational programs and endowed professorships at leading academic medical centers. The Atkins Foundation, which is not affiliated with and operates independently of Atkins Nutritionals, Inc., is governed by a board of directors as a supporting organization of the National Philanthropic Trust, an independent public charity that manages more than $500 million in charitable assets and has disbursed more than $365 million in grants to charities around the globe. |
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The Dr. Robert C. and Veronica Atkins Foundation c/o National Philanthropic Trust, 165 Township Line Road, Suite 150, Jenkintown, PA 19046-3593 |