Bequest Supports Medical Research

The discovery of insulin at U of T has been remembered through a gift that will help fund a medical research chair at the Faculty of Medicine.

Kathleen Banbury (BA 1922 VIC), a longtime U of T donor, died in 1997 at the age of 97. Howard Staff, an estate trustee, says she would be honoured that her bequest will help fund the Banbury Chair in Medical Research. Her U of T connection was particularly strong because her husband, Perley Banbury, was one of the first diabetics successfully treated with insulin by Dr. Frederick Banting. “Kay felt that without insulin, she and Perley wouldn’t have had their time together,” says Staff.

The Banbury Chair in Medical Research was matched by the university, creating a $2-million endowment. It will be awarded to a faculty member investigating the fundamental molecular mechanisms of biology and disease.