Diabetes - The Facts 
Diabetes Research Newsletter Contact Direct
Direct Fundraising
In December 2006, DIRECT (the Diabetes Research & Education Centre Trust), a well known Exeter based charity set up in 1990 by Professor Sir John Tooke, merged with the Peninsula Medical School’s charity, Foundation. DIRECT became known from this point as DIRECT – The Diabetes Research Project, and took on the responsibility to become the diabetes fundraising arm of the School, supporting diabetes research in Exeter, Plymouth and Truro.
As Professor Sir John Tooke said at the end of 2006: ‘It has been a privilege to have led the Charity for the last 16 years which has enabled the establishment of a world leading diabetes research team, state of the art clinical facilities, and facilitated the development of the Medical School’.
Exeter was very fortunate to have raised enough money over its 16 years to support various educational initiatives, the old and the new Diabetes Centre on site at the Royal Devon and Exeter hospital; the Diabetes and Vascular Research Centre and two research studentships at the Medical School.
Dr Kenneth Macleod, Consultant Physician in Diabetes and Endocrinology in the Royal Devon and Exeter hospital added at the time of the merge: ‘This is a huge opportunity for DIRECT to develop on a larger scale and with wider support, something that we only could have imagined back in 1990.’
Today, DIRECT is proud to be developing awareness about the Schools research into diabetes, its causes and complications, across the Devon and Cornwall peninsula.