Well Cell Global donates to UB’s Center for Integrated Global Biomedical Sciences

Morse, director of the University at Buffalo (UB) Center for Integrated Global Biomedical Sciences (CIGBS) and co-director of the State University of New York (SUNY) Global Health Institute, will work with UB CIGBS and SUNY faculty experts to implement new diagnostic, therapeutic, and clinical management initiatives. CIGBS has employed a “local is global” model for international program development in other research capacity building initiatives including HIV, Global Infectious Diseases, and non-communicable diseases and will focus on contributing to enhancing health outcomes and impacting on the diabetes pandemic.

“This gift will foster new collaborations and engage faculty, business, and community partnerships to build regional programs that are needed to address diabetes and its complications that represent overwhelming global biomedical challenges for low- and middle-income countries,” says Morse.

“I’d like to thank Well Cell Global for its recognition of CIGBS and its role in advancing global therapeutics research, education and capacity building and the important role that UB has in global programs,” says Gary Pollack, PhD, dean of the UB School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Morse directs the CIGBS Translational Pharmacology Research Core and is program director of the UB-University of Zimbabwe HIV Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics Research Training Program and co-leader of the Zimbabwe Health Galaxy Park project for health care innovation and biomedical research. He also serves as program director for the UB-University of the West Indies Global Infectious Diseases Research Training Program, co-director of the SUNY-UWI Health Research Consortium, and primary mentor for NIH Fogarty Emerging Global Leader Award research leaders at the University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa, and the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.

Morse is co-director along with James L. Mohler, CIGBS Scientific Leadership Committee and emeritus chair of Urology, and Chief, Inter-Institutional Academics at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, of the Western New York (WNY) COVID-19 Collaborative. The Collaborative was formed in April 2020 in response to the COVID-19 emergency and has developed into a regional network of community organizations in underserved communities within Erie and Niagara Counties. More recently, the Collaborative has developed a plan to pursue development of a Regional Equitable Health Infrastructure Network of Western New York (Rethink WNY) to optimize the use of existing infrastructure by building an innovative network through community engagement and novel partnerships. This community health collaborative is well positioned to work with novel CIGBS diabetes projects.

“We hope this funding will catalyze innovative diabetes research and education that is needed to address global health challenges and conduct biomedical research to examine implications of the diabetes pandemic through clinical and implementation projects. These projects will synergize with UB’s ongoing efforts in Western New York and with partners in low- and middle-income countries.” says Scott Hepford, CEO  of Well Cell Global LLC. “Well Cell Global provides an approach called Physiologic Insulin Resensitization, to address metabolic failure and reduce insulin resistance promoting glucose entry into cells.”

Additional UB and CIGBS faculty leaders who have contributed to “local is global” programs include Gina Prescott, Raymond Cha, and Jeffrey Lombardo, all from the UB School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences; Dorothy Siaw-Asamoah from the UB School of Management; Laurene Tumiel-Berhalter, Teresa Quattrin and Peter Elkin, all from the UB Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Global partners include Chiedza Maponga from the University of Zimbabwe and John Lindo from the University of the West Indies, Mona.