On Feb. 18 I moderated the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Capitol Chapter’s second annual Research Summit on type 1 diabetes. My first question when I got the call to moderate was, “Why me?” (Not unlike the response I had to my diagnosis of type 1 diabetes 40 years ago.) And I wasn’t just fishing for...

It was late January and the temperature was in the mid-seventies without a cloud in the sky – one reason to love being in San Diego. Another reason? The Pediatric Diabetes Research Center (PDRC) at the University of California, San Diego was holding its third-annual symposium. The PDRC aims to bring together the numerous research efforts...

My mother was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) when I was five-years-old.  At the time, there were no effective treatments for the disease.  My mother tried every medication doctors prescribed, an experimental surgery, and even non-conventional therapies.  Everything failed.  I tried to help her too, using the tools I had as...

When we think of diabetic neuropathy, most of us think of our feet, not our stomachs.  There is, however, a debilitating form of neuropathy, known as gastroparesis, that affects the gastrointestinal tract (GI).  And while we don’t hear about this form of neuropathy all that often, it affects as many as 12% of people with diabetes. Gastroparesis...

I’m going to be upfront about it: the news that Novo Nordisk was seeking FDA approval for Degludec, their most advanced long-acting insulin, did not grab my attention.  Don’t get me wrong—the insulin is impressive in its claims: clinical trial results show that it lasts longer than 24 hours; can be administered at any time...

Diabetes technology has vastly improved in the last decade, and most people with diabetes who have the opportunity to wear an insulin pump or a continuous glucose monitor are grateful for the assistance they provide.  But even with these advanced tools, the biggest burdens of diabetes – the insulin dosing and blood sugar testing...

Stem cells and diabetes are old friends, and if you’ve spent any time reading about diabetes, you probably have at least a vague sense that stem cells are important for a cure for diabetes. As a diabetic, then, I was pleased to attend the World Stem Cell Summit in Pasadena, where scientists, doctors, business people, policy wonks,...

Pop Quiz: Who is the largest single funder of diabetes research in the U.S.? Whose acronym graces grants across the scientific board, on projects looking at everything from genetics to treatments to complications to cures? It’s not the American Diabetes Association (ADA), and it’s not a corporation. The biggest name in diabetes research...

I have always said that San Diego is a great place to be if you’re a diabetic, and now some incredibly generous and organized local San Diegans are setting about to prove me right! That’s probably a very me-centric way of looking at things, but how could this not be about me? Seventeen of the top names in diabetes research...

Most of the new technology at the American Diabetes Association’s 71st Annual Scientific Sessions could be found on the exhibit hall floor, complete with demo models, video tutorials, and well-dressed company representatives. One of my favorite promising new technologies, though, was nowhere to be found in the exhibit hall; it was stashed...