World’s Leading Funder of Diabetes Research

  • JDRF’s mission is to find a cure for diabetes and its complications through the support of research.
  • JDRF is the leading charitable funder and advocate of juvenile (type 1) diabetes research worldwide.
  • JDRF was founded in 1974 by parents of children with juvenile diabetes.  As a result, JDRF volunteers have a personal connection to juvenile diabetes, which translates into an unrelenting focus on the needs of all people with diabetes and the commitment to finding a cure as soon as possible.
  • JDRF has awarded more than $1 billion in direct funding to diabetes research.  In 2007 JDRF Canada will, provide over $10 million to diabetes research.

Cutting-Edge Research

  • JDRF has three major “cure” goals: restoring normal blood sugar, prevention and treatment of diabetes related complications, and preventing diabetes. 
  • Through its unique scientific peer and lay review program, JDRF funds the most innovative, cutting-edge research worldwide. In 2002, the Foundation awarded more than 500 centre and individual research grants to scientists in 19 countries throughout the world.
  • JDRF structures its research program on a business-world model to ensure that resources are spent most effectively to accelerate progress towards finding a cure. 
  • Each year, JDRF rigorously evaluates the field of diabetes research worldwide to identify opportunities where JDRF funds will make a difference. In 2002, this review confirmed JDRF’s three major “cure” goals and identified specific priority areas, including the achievement of transplant tolerance and the development of alternate sources of insulin-producing islet cells, the major remaining obstacles to making islet transplantation safe, effective, and widely available. JDRF has taken the lead in nurturing human clinical trials in these and other critical areas spanning all three goal areas.
  • The Foundation creates multidisciplinary programs that bring together diabetes researchers from many institutions and such diverse disciplines as molecular biology, genetics, immunology, transplantation, and vascular biology to find a cure for diabetes and its complications.

Leveraging Research Funds
  • JDRF leverages its research impact by partnering with and stimulating increased research spending on the part of public and private medical organizations and other entities throughout the world.
  • JDRF advocates won a major victory in 2002 with the passage of landmark legislation, the Special Juvenile Diabetes Research Program, earmarking $750 million in supplemental U.S. government funding for juvenile diabetes research for fiscal years 2004-8.
  • Through this program, the U.S. National Institutes of Health, with JDRF support, created a number of critical new programs, including the Beta Cell Biology Consortium, the Type 1 Diabetes Genetics Consortium, the Immune Tolerance Network, and Autoimmune Diseases Prevention Centers.  It is unlikely any of these initiatives would have been established at their current levels without JDRF advocacy and support.
  • JDRF collaborates with all diabetes stakeholders, including individuals with diabetes and their families, world-leading diabetes researchers and academic institutions, foundations, corporations, individual donors and volunteers, government agencies, and biotech/pharmaceutical companies.