Barnstable Brown gala benefits diabetes research
Entertainers to appear at the Barnstable Brown gala in recent years include the Backstreet Boys.
Star-watchers from all over Kentucky line the Barnstable Brown driveway each Derby Eve to catch a glimpse of the rich and famous.
That's because each May, Patricia Barnstable Brown, her husband, physician David Brown, and her sister, Priscilla Barnstable, hold their lavish, star-studded and now-legendary Derby Eve Party.
Last year's headliners ranged from the Backstreet Boys and Travis Tritt to Emmylou Harris and Ashley Judd. Just for good measure, athletes Peyton Manning and Tim Couch showed up, too. As if the star power weren't enough, the party's annual invitation list reads like a who's-who of Louisville corporate elite.
There has been, however, one difference that sets recent galas apart. Party proceeds have, for the past three years, gone to fund diabetes research at the University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky.
The Barnstable sisters announced at the December 1998 UK-UofL game that they would donate $100,000 of party-raised funds to each school annually.
They've committed to donating $500,000 over five years to each university, matched by an equal amount from the state's Research Challenge Trust Fund. That will result in a total of $1 million for diabetes research at each school.
At UofL, the money is being used to establish an endowed chair in diabetes research at the school's Institute for Cellular Therapeutics, led by Dr. Suzanne Ildstad.
The family's long-standing interest in diabetes research stems at least in part from the fact that Dr. David Brown has had diabetes since 1990. He recently underwent a kidney transplant necessitated by complications to his condition.
The Barnstables and Browns have ties to both UofL and UK. The Barnstable sisters were cheerleaders at UK, Patricia and David Brown are longtime Louisville residents, and David is an alumnus of UofL's medical school.
