New Diabetes Initiative Receives $2 Million From Keck Foundation 2004-06-12 LOS ANGELES, June 12, 2004 - The Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California and Childrens Hospital Los Angeles have announced a new initiative to identify and address the interrelated factors that lead to obesity and diabetes in East Los Angeles and South Los Angeles. Initial support for the initiative will be provided by the Los Angeles-based W.M. Keck Foundation. The $2 million grant from the Foundation will support the Keck Diabetes Prevention Initiative's initial two-year planning process to identify the factors that contribute to decisions about diet, physical activity, and health care within these communities; to develop strategies to prevent diabetes and promote healthy lifestyle choices; and to engage and mobilize experts, government officials, community leaders, businesses, and residents. The planning process will advance an eight-year intervention in partnership with the Edward Royal Comprehensive Health Center in East Los Angeles and the Hubert Humphrey Comprehensive Health Center in South Los Angeles. The number of overweight and obese individuals in the United States has reached epidemic proportions, resulting in serious medical, economic, and quality-of-life issues, said Anne Peters Harmel, M.D., professor of medicine at the Keck School of Medicine and director of the USC Clinical Diabetes Program. About 65 percent of the nation's adult population and 15 percent of its youth are overweight, with nearly one in three Americans considered obese. Studies indicate that Los Angeles County is at the epicenter of the problem, with the highest rates of adult obesity in East Los Angeles, South Los Angeles, and the Antelope Valley. "Understanding the multiple factors which lead to the development of obesity and, eventually, diabetes as well as finding ways to work with the community and individuals to prevent these chronic diseases is as important to the personal and public health systems in our country as childhood immunizations have been in preventing acute infectious diseases," said Michael Roybal, M.D., medical director of the Edward R. Roybal Comprehensive Health Center. "The involvement of the County of Los Angeles and the Department of Health Services in this effort is a testament to the significance of these issues."