Kids coached by athletes who share their daily challenges of living with type 1 diabetes 

The kids who attended the first annual Sam Fuld USF Diabetes Center Sports Camp this weekend got more than a chance to catch fly balls, practice a tennis swing or hone hoop skills.   Throughout the day the youngsters heard positive messages from the camp coaches, all of whom share their daily challenges of living with type 1 diabetes. 

Perhaps none more reassuring than the one emphasized by the  athlete who helped organize the camp, Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Sam Fuld.

“I’m a little nervous,” Fuld quipped. ” There’s a lot of kids watching me out here.”

“There used to be a stigma attached to having diabetes and being involved in competitive sports, but the medications and therapies available today (to help control blood sugar) are so much better,” said Fuld, who checks his blood sugar throughout the day, including two to three times during games, and gives himself several insulin shots daily. “There’s no reason for diabetes to hold you back in any shape or form.”

More than 100 campers, young athletes with type 1 diabetes invited to bring along  a friend or sibling without diabetes, participated in several sports during the camp, which was held in the USF Athletic District. 

Paige Tepper, 10, of Largo, selected baseball-softball, tennis and cheerleading as her sports sessions. Her brother Aidan, 9, who does not have diabetes, joined Paige in the morning for the baseball drills before heading for the soccer field and basketball court. 

“I’m glad he came, because he looks out for me,” said Paige, who sported sneakers with pink shoelaces and, like many young campers, wore an insulin pump. “It’s good to have that support.”

All the coaches leading Saturday’s sports sessions had experience playing college or professional sports.  Genevieve King, diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 16, played for the University of Texas as an All American and competed professionally in the U.S. Open for four years before becoming a junior women’s tennis coach.

“It’s been great to get to know the kids,” King said in between showing youngsters the proper way to grip and swing a racket and hitting tennis balls to them across the net. “When I was growing up (with diabetes), I never got a chance to come to a camp like this. Sports can be a great confidence builder for them.”

Camper Paige Tepper, 10, of Largo, practices her tennis swing.

Athletes, like Fuld and King, who have succeeded at high-level competition while managing their type 1 diabetes provide inspirational role models for the campers, whether they’re interested in sports competitively or for recreation and exercise, said Dr. Henry Rodriguez, medical director of the USF Diabetes Center. 

“If these kids want to play baseball, or soccer, or basketball, we want to empower them to do that,” Dr. Rodriguez said.  “Physical activity can help lower blood sugar and improve one’s sense of well being. While balancing activity and blood sugar control can be a challenge for athletes with type 1 diabetes, with proper management they can achieve just about everything.”

Dr. Rodriguez and the staff of the USF Diabetes Center provided medical supervision for the campers, supported by nurses from the Tampa Bay area and counselors from Florida Diabetes camps.   Plenty of granola bars, peanut butter crackers and juice packs were on hand to help campers maintain normal glucose levels.

Dr. Henry Rodriguez (left), medical director of the USF Diabetes Center, says athletes like Fuld who successfully cope with diabetes and compete at a high level, are inspirational role models.

As each new group of campers arrived for the baseball drills, Fuld gathered them together in the dugout for an informal chat. The conversation ranged from his experiences growing up with diabetes to questions about playing professional baseball.

Does he ever get dizzy out on the field?   Fortunately, he’s never had to come out of a game, Fuld said. “If my blood sugar feels low, I pop a few pieces of gum… As an emergency measure, if I need more, I always keep a granola or protein bar in my back pocket.”

How many bats does he have?  “Plenty of extras” in case one breaks.

Fuld encouraged the campers not to be self-conscious about having type 1 diabetes. “I’ve never met anyone who didn’t like me because I was diabetic… so talk to your teammates about it.”

The USF Diabetes Center staff was on hand to provide assistance with blood draws
or shots, if needed.

The genesis for the diabetes sports camp originated with Fuld’s tour last August of the newly opened USF Diabetes Center, where he met with young patients and learned about the facility’s family-centered programs and leading-edge research.

“The camp gives kids the chance to learn how to deal with being a diabetic athlete and to gain inspiration from peers and coaches,” Fuld said. “I’m excited about making it an annual tradition in the Tampa Bay area.”

Type 1 diabetes, most commonly diagnosed in children and young adults, occurs when the immune system destroys insulin-producing cells of the pancreas. People with type 1 diabetes produce no insulin and must use insulin injections daily to control their blood sugar.

For more information about the USF Diabetes Center, visit http://diabetes.health.usf.edu/

Story by Anne DeLotto Baier, video by Amy Mariani and photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications.

To cheers, applause and the snip of scissors across green satin ribbon, USF’s long-standing diabetes program ceremoniously opened its new facility Nov. 14 – World Diabetes Day – on the fifth floor of the Carol & Frank Morsani Center for Advanced Healthcare.

Families coping with diabetes, community supporters, elected officials, local media, physicians, researchers and support staff crowded into the new Center’s lobby in the morning, craning to see for themselves the opening of a comprehensive center that integrates patient-centered care, education and research with innovative design and state-of-the-art technology.

 Along with the good news of the Center’s new 10,000-square-foot home, the day included announcements of two new grants for diabetes research:  a $3.5 million grant from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and a $55.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

“Today we celebrate a major milestone in our vision to cure diabetes, while dramatically and more immediately improving the lives of those affected by the disease,” said Henry Rodriguez, MD, medical director of the Center. “Our journey began many years ago with the pioneering work of Dr. John Malone and Dr. Anthony Morrison. Our achievement today is made possible with the leadership of Dr. Jeffrey Krischer and the shared vision and efforts of many.”

In addition to USF and USF Health leadership, Dr. Rodriguez recognized the founding families whose “wealth, wisdom and work helped transform our shared vision into reality.”

Dr. Henry Rodriguez, medical director of the USF Diabetes Center

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor shared in the celebration, calling the Center a leader in health innovation for the Tampa Bay area.

“Diabetes research here at the USF Diabetes Center is leading the way,” Castor said. “You can be proud that this is a place where all families can come to feel safe and comfortable, to be inspired, to work on a cure and to work on treatments. We’re going to ensure that the commitment to this diabetes center continues and that the University of South Florida remains a premiere health innovation capitol, particularly when it comes to diabetes research.”

U.S. Rep Kathy Castor of Tampa with Dr. John Malone, co-founder of
the USF Diabetes Center.

Dr. Krischer, director of the USF Diabetes Center, announced the two major grants that will help further propel USF’s diabetes research efforts. 

The first — a three-year, $3.5 million grant from JDRF — will help researchers determine whether earlier diagnosis and intervention leads to improved long-term outcomes for children and adults with Type 1 diabetes.

The second — a five-year $55.9 million grant from the NIH – will  build upon preliminary findings from TEDDY, or The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young study, which is investigating the role that diet, infections and other environmental factors may play in triggering autoimmunity and type 1 diabetes.

Dr. Jeffrey Krischer, director of the USF Diabetes Center, accepts from
JDRF officials a representation of the foundation’s  $3.5 million check
funding diabetes research.

“This new grant will help initiate a new era of discovery in looking at causes related to diabetes,” said Dr. Krischer, the pediatric endocrinologist who led the effort to build the Center. “It will enable us to apply human genomics, metabalomics and epigenetics – all cutting edge science – to new investigations of gene-environment interactions as potential contributors to the development of Type 1 diabetes.”

Stephen Klasko, MD, MBA, senior vice president of USF Health, spoke about the generous support the Center has had and thanked the many in attendance for their continued support, including Rep. Castor, Florida Rep. Shawn Harrison, the USF Board of Trustees Gene Engle, Debbie Sembler, and Stephen Mitchell, Barbara and Roger Monsour, among many others.

He then turned his attention to the founding of the center.

Local media covered the event.

“Everyone agreed to the needs that should be met at an academic institution,” Dr. Klasko said. “We started with a vision that included bringing in Dr. Jeff Krischer, the world’s top diabetes researcher. Then we brought in Dr. Henry Rodriguez to start the clinical research operations. But this entire center is based on what patients wanted. It is about the patients.”

USF President Judy Genshaft could not attend but presented her congratulatory message surrounded by young patients with diabetes via video.

“The Center gives us the opportunity to lead the search for a cure for this terrible disease,” she said. “This did not begin today and it will not end tomorrow. We are building the finest Center backed with more than $400 million in research funding and leading a world-wide search for a cure.”

Mayor Bob Buckhorn recognized USF’s  vital contributions in combating
diabetes and declared Nov. 14, 2011 “World Diabetes Day” in the City of Tampa.

City of Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn shared his thanks and congratulations and delivered a Proclamation naming Nov. 14, 2011 World Diabetes Day in the City of Tampa

“Thank you for all that you do for diabetes,” Buckhorn said. “Dr. Krischer, congratulations and keep up the good work. We’re proud of you.”

Guests then toured the facility and enjoyed a variety of appetizers prepared by Carmel Café that were samples of foods patient with diabetes could easily prepare on their own.

Building upon its foundation as an internationally-recognized center for diabetes and related autoimmune research, USF uniquely designed the center to promote progress towards a cure and support patients and families in their daily management of diabetes.

Unique to the center is an in-house kitchen, where the dietitian and invited chefs can teach patients and their families how to prepare healthy foods.

The expanded USF Diabetes Center houses:

• Several exam rooms, including two that include provisions for drug infusion therapy
• Encounter rooms where the center’s clinical psychologist and other staff can meet with patients and family members
• An in-house studio kitchen where the center’s dietitian and invited chefs can demonstrate how to prepare healthy meals
• A dedicated phlebotomy room and laboratory for preparing patient samples
• A multimedia center with kiosks and computers, where patients can download data about their blood sugar levels from insulin pumps
• A playroom

Unique to the new USF Diabetes Center is the Famous Tate Teaching Kitchen, where hands-on teaching by dietitians will help patients and their families understand the nuances for maintaining good nutrition and dietary habits to successfully manage their disease.

Emma Donahue (far right), 16, diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, with her siblings, left to right, Trevor, Caroline, Gabriela, and Alexandria. The entire Donahue family benefits from the comprehensive services of the USF Diabetes Center.

“Everything I need for my diabetes health and care is all here in one place,” said Emma Donahue, 16, a patient at the USF Diabetes Center who attended the celebration.  “There’s tons of new information and people who care about you, as well as everybody else affected by diabetes, like your family.”

Emma has type 1 diabetes, which requires a lifelong commitment to daily insulin injections and significant lifestyle changes.  Her sisters, Caroline, 12, and Gabriela, 9, are enrolled through the USF Diabetes Center in TrialNet, a study to learn more about how type 1 diabetes develops in at-risk individuals, including siblings of those diagnosed with type 1.

At the afternoon festivities for patients and family members, kids got
to write on the sidewalks outside the Morsani Center with washable chalk (above).   And scale an inflatable rock climbing wall (below).

Brian Donahue, Emma’s father, said that in addition to helping the family support the shorter term physiological and psychological needs of his daughter, the USF Diabetes Center provides opportunities to participate in leading clinical research that may lead to a cure.

“The beauty of the USF Diabetes Center is that it marries the research with the clinical care,” Donahue said. “It’s exciting to hear about all the research Dr. Krischer is doing… I’m not a betting man, but I think in the next 20 years we’ll probably lick this disease.  We want to be part of the team.”

Dr. Stephen Klasko (center), CEO of USF Health and medical dean, was D.J. for the afternoon. USF Athletic Director Doug Woolard (left) and USF Bulls Head Football Coach Skip Holtz (right) stopped by the celebration.

The day’s activities included afternoon festivities for patients and their families, including music spun by D.J. Dr. Stephen Klasko, a rock climbing wall and a visit by USF Bulls Football Coach Skip Holtz and the USF Show Band.  As dusk fell, the crowd burst into applause as the façade of the Morsani Center was lit blue to mark World Diabetes Day — and a  milestone in the achievements of the USF Diabetes Center. 

- Story by Sarah Worth and Anne DeLotto Baier, photos by Eric Younghans, and video by Amy Mariani, USF Health Communications

To mark World Diabetes Day the facade of the Morsani Center for Advanced Healthcare, the new home of the USF Diabetes Center, was illuminated blue.

L to R: Nicole Johnson, Bringing Science Home executive director; Debra Jacobs, CEO and president of The Patterson Foundation; Michael Hoad, USF vice president of communications and marketing; and USF President Judy Genshaft. 

“This initiative is about helping people live better with chronic health conditions,” said Nicole Johnson, executive director of Bringing Science Home. “We are working to improve the daily lives of people affected by creating programs and tools for individuals and training programs for health professionals. We are excited The Patterson Foundation is continuing its efforts in making our vision a reality.”

Bringing Science Home strives to transform and enable people to live optimistically with chronic health conditions by developing new ways of educating, training and caring for them. Through projects like exploring how to help young adults with Type 1 diabetes optimize their daily living and transition through important life stages, Bringing Science Home has become a model program for chronic illness care.

“The Bringing Science Home team has effectively leveraged our investment and has been an innovative steward of our gift,” said Debra Jacobs, president and CEO of The Patterson Foundation. “We were inspired to extend our partnership with them, and as with all of our partnerships, we have a vested interest in seeing Bringing Science Home thrive financially into perpetuity. We hope to inspire generosity through our $2 million matching challenge.”

- News release from The Patterson Foundation

About The Patterson Foundation
The Patterson Foundation exists to inspire others through innovative, collaborative and efficient philanthropy and generosity. The foundation approaches its work through communications, finance and technology, with an emphasis on learning and sharing with others to leverage resources and create New Realities. For more information, please visit http://www.ThePattersonFoundation.org.

About USF Health
USF Health is dedicated to creating a model of health care based on understanding the full spectrum of health. It includes the University of South Florida’s colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Public Health and Pharmacy, the School of Biomedical Sciences and the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences; and the USF Physician’s Group.  Ranked 34th in federal research expenditures for public universities by the National Science Foundation, the University of South Florida is a high impact global research university. 
 

USF Health diabetes expertise will be front and center at the Taking Control of Your Diabetes Conference & Health Fair this Saturday, Oct. 1, at the Tampa Convention Center.

Featured speaker Nicole Johnson, MPH, executive director of Bringing Science Home at USF Health, will speak on the topic “Living Well with Diabetes. Johnson, Miss America 1999, works to promote awareness, prevention and early detection of diabetes – a condition she has lived with since 1993. 

Johnson and Denise Edwards, MD, director of the USF Healthy Weight Clinic, are among the conference’s co-directors. 

USF Health’s Nicole Johnson and Dr. Denise Edwards are among
the conference co-directors.

Dr. Edwards, assistant professor of medicine and pediatrics, will speak about medical and surgical treatment options for obesity. 

Anthony Morrison, MD, USF professor of medicine, will address customizing insulin regimens for those with Type 2 diabetes.

In addition, leading interactive ask-the-expert sessions will be Sheryl Merkin, ARNP, CDE, USF Diabetes Center (Ask a Diabetes Educator); Jane Norman, RD, CDE, USF Diabetes Center (Ask a Dietitian); and Kevin Sneed, PharmD, dean of the USF College of Pharmacy (Ask a .   The group Students With Diabetes from Bringing Science Home will offer information about online resources for living well with diabetes.

Taking Control of Your Diabetes (TCOYD) is a diabetes education organization that has conducted inspirational and educational diabetes conferences and health fairs for nearly 17 years. In addition to cutting-edge lectures and seminars, the conference will feature a health fair with 30 informational exhibits from national and local diabetes-related organizations and companies showcasing state-of-the-art technologies.  A banquet-style lunch and healthy snacks will be provided.

Bringing Science Home, led by Johnson, aims to help people with chronic diseases live fuller and more optimistic lives. The USF project has started by studying the lives of people with Type 1 diabetes and helping young people with the transition of caring for their diabetes more independently.

For more information about the conference, including a full list of speakers and sessions, please visit http://tcoyd.org/national-conferences/tampa-2011.html or call 800-998-2693.

Getting a peek at the new facilities was part of the reason nearly a dozen young people with Type 1 diabetes came with their families to the USF Diabetes Center Aug. 8.

But the real reason was probably that Tampa Bay Rays baseball player Sam Fuld was there, too.

The Fuld Family toured the USF Diabetes Center on Monday. From left, Sarah Fuld, Charlie Fuld, Dr. Stephen Klasko, Sam Fuld, and Dr. Henry Rodriguez.

Fuld, a Rays outfielder who has Type 1 diabetes, toured the USF Diabetes Center with his wife Sarah and son Charlie to learn more about what the Center would offer when it formally opens later this month, as well as to meet USF’s key diabetes researchers and physicians. The state-of-the-art clinical research and care center recently moved into 10,000 square feet of newly renovated space at the Carol & Frank Morsani Center for Advanced Healthcare on the USF Health campus.

Prior to the tour, the Fulds were told about the concepts and mission behind the Center’s innovative design.

“We’ve taken a different approach here and tried to simulate a diabetes lifestyle, almost a camp atmosphere, rather than so clinical,” said Stephen K. Klasko, MD, MBA, dean of the USF College of Medicine and CEO of USF Health.

Sam Fuld, right, hears firsthand from Center Medical Director Dr. Henry Rodriguez and Center Director Jeff Krischer about the comprehensive approach the USF Diabetes Center team take for helping families coping with diabetes.

“We’re delighted to have pulled together the three legs to our diabetes efforts: faculty basic science, a research center, and now a clinical facility,” said Jeffrey Krischer, PhD, director of the USF Diabetes Center and the Pediatric Epidemiology Center. “Our goal at USF is to eradicate diabetes.”

Center Medical Director Henry Rodriguez, MD, showed the Fuld family around the patient-centered clinic, stopping every so often so Fuld could sign autographs for eager patients and staff members.

From left, Dr. Jeff Krischer, Sarah Fuld, Dr. Judy Genshaft, Sam Fuld, Dr. Stephen Klasko, and Charlie Fuld.

After the tour, the Fulds rejoined the young diabetes patients and their families in the Center’s Famous Tate Teaching Kitchen, where they shared lunch and USF President Judy Genshaft and Dr. Klasko presented the Fulds with USF Bulls shirts.

USF President Judy Genshaft and USF Health CEO Dr. Stephen Klasko present Sam Fuld with a USF Bulls jersey, which he immediately put on.

Obviously impressed, Fuld said he was glad to be a part of USF’s effort to help families living with diabetes and didn’t know what to expect when he first arrived at the Center.

“I grew up in New Hampshire and was lucky enough to be about an hour away from the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston,” Fuld said, referring to the nationally known clinic he went to in his youth to manage his diabetes.

“But this blows the Joslin away. This is a cause near and dear to my heart. I was inspired at age 12 by (major leage baseball great) Bill Gullickson (who also has diabetes). He only spoke with me for two to three minutes, but he provided so much hope for me at such a young age. I look forward to a continuing partnership with USF.”

Fuld finished his visit by signing autographs and posing for photographs. 

Front row: Tee Coto, AJ Ruiz, Emma Donahue, Sam Fuld, Robert Colon, Carly Stagg, Craig Bobik, John Horst. Back row: Mark Gruetzmacher, Genevieve King, Janie Norman.

Fuld, 29, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 10. The Stanford-educated Fuld, known for spectacular plays on the field, is one of several major-league baseball players who have successfully battled the chronic disease.  It requires him to prick his fingers to check his blood sugar level and inject himself with insulin, several times a day, for the rest of his life.

The expanded USF Diabetes Center houses several exam rooms, including two that include provisions for drug infusion therapy; encounter rooms where the center’s clinical psychologist and other staff can meet with patients and family members; a teaching kitchen where the center’s dietitian and invited chefs can demonstrate how to prepare healthy meals; a dedicated phlebotomy room and laboratory for preparing patient samples, a multimedia center with kiosks and computers; and a playroom.

The USF Diabetes Center is an affiliate site for the Type 1 Diabetes TrialNet Study Group, which is looking for ways to prevent, delay and reverse the progression of Type 1 diabetes.

Story compiled by Sarah A. Worth, video by Amy Mariani, photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Office of Communications.

Charlie Kimball doesn’t let Type 1 diabetes stand in the way of pushing his 1,600 pound, 700-horsepower race car to its 200-plus mph limit.

Kimball, in town to compete in Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, swung by USF Health Morsani Center for Advanced Healthcare this Wednesday to launch a national campaign on options for insulin delivery. The campaign is sponsored by Novo Nordisk, which sponsors the number 83 IZOD IndyCar series race car that Kimball drives.

Kimball was introduced by Dr. Henry Rodriguez, medical director of the USF Diabetes Center. He was greeted by more than a dozen young people with Type 1 diabetes and their parents, who came to hear Kimball, 26, tell his inspiring story. It’s a story about forging a successful career in the highly competitive field of open wheel racing — even with a disease requiring blood sugar testing several times a day, lifelong commitment to insulin injections, and significant lifestyle changes.

IndyCar driver Charlie Kimball with Dr. Henry Rodriguez, director of the USF Diabetes Center, in front of a replica of the race car Kimball will drive in the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

The children who attended got to sign a replica of Kimball’s official race car after making a pledge to talk to their health care practitioners about options for best controlling their diabetes. Their parents asked Kimball questions like how much he tests his blood sugar on race day and what special provisions he makes in the cockpit. The kids were more interested in getting Kimball’s autograph, touching his fireproof suit and asking how fast he drives and whether he’s ever crashed.

Kimball is a great role model for kids who worry about what life will be like after a diagnosis of diabetes, Dr. Rodriguez said. “Charlie is a fine example of someone who has taken charge of managing his diabetes while pursuing his dream.”

Payton Veghte, 7, of Clearwater, signs Kimball’s IZOD IndyCar series race car. Payton doesn’t have diabetes, but her brother Christian does. “We say we were all diagnosed… it affects the entire family,” said Payton’s mother Leigh Veghte.

When he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 2007 after visiting the doctor for an unrelated skin rash, Kimball was worried he might have to abandon his fledgling racing career. He had already bypassed admission to Stanford University after being accepted there to follow his dream to become a racecar driver.

“I knew driving race cars was truly my passion and I didn’t know if diabetes was going to derail it,” he said.

But, he worked closely with his diabetes care team to establish a treatment regimen that fit his needs and allows him to continue competitive racing. Six months after the unexpected diagnosis he returned to the cockpit and claimed a second-place finish in his first race back. Kimball is the first licensed driver with diabetes in the history of IndyCar, and this Memorial Day he will be the first driver with diabetes to compete in the legendary Indianapolis 500.

“I’m living proof that diabetes doesn’t have to slow you down,” Kimball said. “With good care and management you can do anything in life you want — whether it’s driving a race car 200 miles an hour, being an Olympic swimmer or climbing Mount Everest.”

Kimball autographs a photo for some young “fans” who came to USF Health
to hear him tell his story about racing with Type 1 diabetes.

That doesn’t mean the road is easy. It is physically and mentally demanding to maneuver a high-speed car, inches away from other cars, around a track for one to three hours. There’s no question that stress can impact hormones in the body that regulate blood sugar, Dr. Rodriguez said, but Kimball’s meticulous pre-race preparation and constant monitoring of his condition help him compete safely at a high level.

Kimball injects insulin through a pre-filled pen device. Two hours before a race, he checks his blood sugar at 30-minute intervals. It’s the last thing he does before puts on his gloves and dons his helmet. “I’m very proactive. I’m more aware of the nutritional value of what I’m putting in my body and my physical condition – things that drivers without diabetes may take for granted,” he said. “If I do my preparation right, I can focus on winning.”

Inside the car, Kimball wears a sensor patch on his arm that wirelessly transmits his blood sugar readings to a receiver. So, along with all the data about his car’s performance — speed, lap times, oil and tire pressure – Kimball can also see his continuous blood sugar levels from a monitor mounted on his dashboard. If his levels drop, he can sip orange juice through a straw on the inside of his helmet. If blood sugar drops too low, it can lead to weakness, lack of concentration, slower reaction time, and, if severe enough, loss of consciousness.

“Knowledge is an invaluable tool in diabetes management,” Dr. Rodriguez said. “It gives you the ability to determine what you need to do” to prevent potential problems.

Noah, left, and Harrison Holsinger, twins with Type 1 diabetes, attended the community event hosted by the USF Diabetes Center. Below: Noah, diagnosed at age 3, signs the race car. Brother Harrison was diagnosed last year.

That message wasn’t lost on the youngsters who showed up to see Kimball and sign his replica car. Harrison and Noah Holsinger of St. Petersburg, 9-year-old twin brothers with Type 1 diabetes, thought it was “really cool” that Kimball “is not letting his diabetes stop him.” They said they both want to be athletes as well – NFL football players like Jay Cutler (quarterback for the Chicago Bears who has Type 1 diabetes).

Harrison, diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes last year, said his brother Noah, diagnosed five years earlier at age 3, helped alleviate his fears about the disease, including insulin injections. “One day he gave me my shot and I gave him his,” he said.

You can follow Charlie Kimball on Twitter at @racewithinsulin.

For more information about the USF Diabetes Center, visit www.usfdiabetescenter.org.

For more information on the Novo Nordisk’s Drive the Switch campaign, go to www.DrivetheSwitch.com

Video by Amy Mariani, story by Anne DeLotto Baier and photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications

He was impressed by the leadership of Dr. Jeffrey Krischer, director of the USF Diabetes Center and the Pediatric Epidemiology Center, who has attracted millions of dollars in National Institutes of Health research funding and made USF a data and technology coordinating hub for nearly every major center worldwide conducting Type I diabetes research.

He saw the potential to partner with the nearby Jaeb Center for Health Research, a Tampa-based, free-standing nonprofit coordinating center for multicenter trials and epidemiological research, including Type 1 diabetes.

And, he was attracted by the chance to work with Tampa Bay area hospitals, physicians and other providers to help fill a growing need for children with diabetes and their families to participate in leading clinical trials and raise the standard of care for diabetes and related complications.

“The opportunity to help build a comprehensive program at the USF Diabetes Center was too good to pass up,” said Dr Rodriguez, a pediatric endocrinologist who came to USF this August from Indiana University and Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, IN, where for 11 years he directed a clinical center known for expertise in diabetes and immunology.

“Overwhelming” is how Dr. Rodriguez describes the enthusiastic reception from the diabetes community to USF’s initiatives in search of a cure for Type 1 diabetes. “I’m excited about sharing our passion and expertise with like-minded diabetes care providers locally, statewide and nationally to accelerate the development of new therapies and improve the lives of people with diabetes,” he said.

A Stellar Background in Diabetes

Dr. Rodriguez comes to USF with a stellar background in diabetes research, care and education. At Indiana University he was local lead investigator on one national and two international multi-center trials investigating the causes of type 1 diabetes. Working with the Department of Transplant Surgery, he conducted a pilot trial to determine if the autoimmune destruction of pancreatic islet cells of Type 1 diabetes could be halted using a monoclonal immunosuppressant, Daclizumab.

Dr. Rodriguez has served the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) at both the local and national levels. He was a longstanding member of the Indiana ADA Summer Camp medical staff committee, former chair of the national Pediatric Diabetes Interest Group, and is a member of the ADA Research Grant Review Committee. He served as the JDRF Indiana State Chapter Board president and is currently a member of JDRF’s national Outreach and Medical Affairs Committees. Dr. Rodriguez was a member of the 2006 international consensus committee for pump therapy in children, and visited China in 2007 as a member of the Project HOPE China Pediatric Diabetes Assessment Team.

“Dr. Rodriguez is definitely a leader in the field of Type 1 diabetes research. The University of South Florida is lucky to have him,” said George Huntley, immediate past board chair, American Diabetes Association. “He’s more than a doctor and scientist; he’s an outstanding citizen who gets involved in volunteering his time and reaching out to the diabetes community.”

In Indiana, Dr. Rodriguez was a terrific champion and medical volunteer for the ADA’s summer camp that served nearly 200 children with diabetes, Huntley said. “He’s able, in an open and engaging way, to explain a very complex disease like Type I diabetes in language that kids and parents can understand — and make it seem a little less scary…. He’s great with kids; the bow tie helps.”

Dr. Rodriguez received his MD degree from Albany Medical College in New York in 1987. He completed his residency in pediatrics at the University of Miami and Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, followed by fellowship training in endocrinology at the University of California San Francisco. He was a faculty member at UCSF before joining Indiana University, where most recently he was associate professor of pediatrics in Pediatric Endocrinology/Diabetology and director of the Pediatric Diabetes Clinical Program at the James Whitcomb Riley Hospital for Children.

Building a Better Diabetes Center

Type 1 diabetes is one of the most common and serious chronic diseases in children and teens, although it can strike at any age. In Type 1 diabetes, the body does not produce insulin. The disease develops when the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks the beta cells in the pancreas that make insulin – a hormone that keeps blood sugar levels stable. Without enough insulin, glucose builds up in the blood and leads to long-term complications like vision loss, nerve damage, cardiovascular disease and kidney damage. People with Type 1 must test their blood several times a day to check their glucose (blood sugar) levels. Treatment requires a life-long commitment to daily insulin injections and significant lifestyle changes.

The disease is best managed, Dr. Rodriguez said, when long-term relationships are forged between families and the team of practitioners who equip those families with the skills to cope with the daily challenges of regulating the child’s blood sugar while maintaining quality of life.

Under Dr. Rodriquez’s leadership, the USF Diabetes Center continues to strengthen the foundation laid by Dr. John Malone and Dr. Anthony Morrison and the research of Dr. Krischer. The center’s multidisciplinary team has expanded to ramp up its clinical care and diabetes education programs and advance clinical and translational research.

Over the last year the team has grown from five to 12 members, adding pediatric and adult endocrinologists, nurse practitioners and other health professionals. Brant Burkhardt, PhD, a senior researcher at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute, will join the team this January to conduct diabetes-related immunology research, and USF is recruiting a physician-researcher specializing in adult endocrinology, a research nurse coordinator, and additional staff that will bring the number of Diabetes Center personnel to 18 in 2011.

The build out of 10,000 square feet of space on the Morsani Center for Advanced Healthcare’s fifth floor will begin this month to accommodate the expanding USF Diabetes Center. The new space will house several exam rooms, including two that include provisions for drug infusion therapy; encounter rooms where the center’s clinical psychologist and other staff can meet with patients and family members; a teaching kitchen where the center’s dietitian and invited chefs can demonstrate how to prepare healthy meals; a dedicated phlebotomy room and laboratory for preparing patient samples, a multimedia center with kiosks and computers; and a playroom. The new center is scheduled for completion in April.

Research in Pursuit of a Cure

The USF Diabetes Center is an affiliate site for the Type 1 Diabetes TrialNet Study Group, which is looking for ways to prevent, delay and reverse the progression of Type 1diabetes. With Dr. Rodriguez’s arrival, USF plans to compete for a spot as a full-fledged clinical research center to recruit and enroll patients in TrialNet, a network jointly funded by NIH, the American Diabetes Association and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. TrialNet is one of many national and international Type 1 diabetes clinical trials coordinated by the USF Pediatric Epidemiology Center.

The USF Diabetes Center recently became the first study site in the greater Tampa Bay area to join the T1D Exchange, a new national multicenter trial administered by the Jaeb Center for Health Research. The Exchange aims to promote a better understanding of Type I diabetes and accelerate new treatments through collaborative research and data sharing. USF is one of more than 60 sites nationwide that will contribute to a repository for patient data, a biobank, and an interactive Web site with mobile capacity for researchers, clinicians and patients.

Dr. Rodriguez’s research focuses on trying to better understand the autoimmune response that destroys the pancreatic cells that make insulin. He and other researchers want to find and develop therapies that might prevent the disease in those at high risk or halt the attack in those who recently developed symptoms of the disease. The goal is to preserve patients’ ability to make some insulin and reduce their susceptibility to long-term damage.

The autoimmune process doesn’t happen overnight, but over several years. Most children newly diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes still have some functioning insulin-producing cells “If we can intervene with effective treatment earlier in the disease process,” Dr. Rodriguez said, “we might be able to stop further destruction of beta cells before the disease progresses to the point where they become ill – perhaps even before the child needs insulin at all.”

While only 5 to 10 percent of all diabetes diagnosed is Type 1, Dr. Rodriguez said, “finding a cure for Type 1 would have a tremendous impact on Type 2.”

In Type 2 diabetes, a disease frequently linked with obesity, the individual is not able to produce enough insulin to compensate for the body’s resistance to insulin’s normal effects. However, many people diagnosed with Type 2 eventually develop beta cell failure and cannot produce insulin. So, Dr. Rodriguez said, research benefitting those with Type 1 will certainly also help people with the more common form of diabetes.

Arresting a Diabetes Epidemic

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that by 2050 as many as one in three adults could have diabetes. While the projection is based mostly on increases in Type 2 diabetes, children currently diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes who will be adults by that time are no doubt part of the picture.

“Type 1 diabetes is increasing for reasons we don’t entirely understand,” Dr. Rodriguez said, “and, of most concern, is its rise in younger age groups – particularly children younger than age 5.”

While everyone with Type 1 diabetes is born with a genetic predisposition for the disease, genes alone are not enough. Even when one twin gets Type 1 diabetes, his or her identical twin (born with the same set of genes) develops the disease only half the time.

Researchers continue to investigate the interplay between genetics and the environment that may determine who gets the disease and who doesn’t. Multicenter epidemiological, or population-based, studies like those overseen by Dr. Krischer’s USF team will be critical in determining whether certain childhood infections, diet or other environmental factors are linked to increased risk of autoimmunity and Type 1 diabetes.

“We may find environmental exposures that trigger the autoimmune process in one individual may be different than what triggers the disease in another, depending on how the person is (genetically) hardwired,” Dr. Rodriguez said.

Among the advances in Type 1 diabetes research and care Dr. Rodriguez foresees over the next five to 10 years are:

• New technologies will offer patients greater convenience and safety, less pain and more accurate information to manage their diabetes. One promising line of investigation is “smart” insulin, a chemically-modified insulin shown in preclinical studies to sense and adapt to fluctuating blood sugar levels and deliver insulin to the body as needed.

• Drugs currently used to treat lymphoma, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and other immune-mediated disorders may offer the potential to preserve insulin production in people newly diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.

• Development of cocktails of molecules that stimulate beta cells to regrow could help researchers unravel regulatory pathways and make new insulin-producing cells available to those with diabetes.

• Investigation and refinement of ways to replace non-functioning beta cells through transplantation or cell therapies will continue. Progress in genetic engineering may one day lead to animal islets (a more readily accessible supply of insulin-producing cells) that will not be recognized as foreign by the immune system, and therefore transplanted without the risk of rejection and a lifelong regimen of immunosuppressant drugs.

Dr. Rodriguez is optimistic that new discoveries will lead to better treatments than daily insulin therapy – and eventually a cure.

“I do believe that the children born today who develop Type 1 diabetes will see a cure within their lifetime,” he said.

Story by Anne DeLotto Baier, and photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications

        But while 16-year-old Maryam was taking the test this year, her blood sugar dropped so low that she had to take a break and eat a snack. She missed about 25 minutes of test time and, because it wasn’t arranged in advance, wasn’t allowed to make it up — a problem that she feels lowered her score.

       “It shouldn’t be that we have to keep asking for accommodations,” she complained.

       Her audience knew exactly what she meant. The conference room was packed with teenagers who have diabetes and their parents, all there to share their ideas for how USF could best help them as it develops a new project for helping people with chronic disease.

Teens bonded over their frustrations with diabetes at a focus group meeting for USF’s Bringing Science Home project. 

         The new project, called Bringing Science Home, intends to help people with chronic disease live fuller and more optimistic lives. The project will start by studying Type 1 diabetes, then apply those lessons to other chronic diseases, such as asthma and arthritis. Bringing Science Home is funded by a $5.66 million gift from The Patterson Foundation.

         “We don’t know what to create, from a university standpoint, if we don’t know what you want,” said Nicole Johnson, executive director of Bringing Science Home, to the group, which met Wednesday in Orlando at the national conference of Children With Diabetes.

          Johnson, who is Miss America 1999, understands what many of these teens and their parents are going through. She was diagnosed with Type 1 herself when she was 19. So Johnson sympathized as the teens griped about overprotective parents, as parents sighed about rebellious teens, and as they all began to understand a little better how diabetes can affect almost every aspect of family life.

 
 Nicole Johnson, executive director of Bringing Science Home, shared some of her own experiences with diabetes. 

      “My wife and I don’t fight except for diabetes,” said David Garofalo, who has three children, one with diabetes. “She’s more aggressive (about diabetes care) than me, the kids play us against each other — the whole thing gets caught up in diabetes.”

     Other parents began to cry as they began to talk about how their children feel depressed and anxious — emotions that they clearly were struggling with themselves.

       Sometimes people just don’t realize that dealing with diabetes can be emotionally exhausting, said 18-year-old Ellen Esterhay. People have diabetes every day. There are no vacations, no breaks, and no escape.

       “Sometimes it’s just overwhelming,” Esterhay said. “You’ve been holding it together and all of a sudden you’re an emotional train wreck. Sometimes you need someone to talk you through.”

       Being the parent of a child with diabetes has its stresses as well. They struggle to balance giving their children independence with their fears that they aren’t caring enough for their health.

       Even the smallest transactions of daily routine become fraught with significance: Should you remind your daughter to check her blood sugar? Do you trust that your son has remembered by himself?

      “I felt like the diabetes police,” said Linda Monger. “And although I knew harping wasn’t helping, it was hard to let go.”

       Teens and their parents came up with a laundry list of suggestions for USF and Bringing Science Home to work on. Among them:

      – Blogs for and by teenagers and parents, giving tips and advice about issues they have to deal with.
      – Support groups for families.
      — Counselors who can help parents and teens work through common conflicts, such as giving teens more independence.
      – Better education for medical professionals, so they can provide patients with more useful information and ask better questions.
      – A hotline for patients to call on bad days.
      – A unified support system to cut through the bureaucracy of diabetes, such as getting accommodations on the SAT and dealing with insurance companies.

       All those suggestions will be evaluated, Johnson said. She’s excited about the next steps for Bringing Science Home.

      “The need is tremendous for families,” Johnson said. “When the parents started sharing about the needs of their kids, their needs came out, even though they were unstated. I thought that spoke volumes. The intensity and the urgency of their needs are overwhelming.”

- Story and photos by Lisa Greene, USF Health Communications

Members of the teen advisory board for Bringing Science Home address the crowd at Friday’s announcement. L to R: Liz Giles, Robert Colon, Laura Bernstein

       For Alysia Ekizian, the benefits of USF Health’s newest project, Bringing Science Home, have already begun – even though the project officially kicked off Friday.

        “If you had to have diabetes, this is what you want,” Ekezian said. “You want to give your child a voice.”

        A voice, she said, and a community.

       That’s what Ekizian’s daughter, Melanie, has found as a member of Bringing Science Home’s teen advisory board. Melanie is no longer the only one with Type 1 diabetes. She knows others with the same challenges, the same struggles.

        Ultimately, the Ekizians believe that will help Melanie live with her diabetes – and they want Bringing Science Home to do the same for other teens with Type 1 diabetes.

        That’s also the goal of Nicole Johnson, executive director of Bringing Science Home.

        “This project is going to change people’s lives,” she said at Friday’s announcement.

Nicole Johnson, executive director of Bringing Science Home, introduces the project.

       Thanks to a $5.66 million gift from The Patterson Foundation, part of the USF System’s $600-million USF:Unstoppable Campaign, Bringing Science Home will work to help people with chronic diseases live fuller and more optimistic lives. The project will start by studying the lives of people with Type 1 diabetes and helping young people with the transition of caring for their diabetes more independently.

          Johnson knows that struggle firsthand. After she was diagnosed with diabetes at 19, she was told that many of her life goals were now out of reach. Fortunately, she didn’t listen. She went on to become Miss America 1999, to complete two master’s degrees, and now juggles her career in diabetes advocacy with being a mother.

           But she wants to be sure young people diagnosed today get a different message.

           “They can accomplish whatever they want,” Johnson said. ”And their condition is just along for the ride.”

USF President Judy Genshaft signed the gift agreement Friday.

           USF officials said Friday they have high hopes for Bringing Science Home.

           “I want to thank The Patterson Foundation for their generous gift and for making a difference,” said President Judy Genshaft. “This project aims to change the model of chronic disease education and care.”

Dr. Stephen Klasko, dean of the USF College of Medicine and CEO of USF Health, addresses the group.

         Dr. Stephen Klasko, CEO of USF Health and dean of the College of Medicine, also thanked The Patterson Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Sarasota.

           “It’s almost like a match.com of philosophies,” he said of Patterson, “When both of us feel that with the right partnership, why shouldn’t we lead the health care revolution?”

 Debra Jacobs, president and CEO of The Patterson Foundation, talks about joining forces with USF Health. 

        Debra Jacobs, president and CEO of the foundation, said that when Patterson became interested in pursuing a diabetes initiative, USF was a natural choice.

            “We wanted to find a transformational partner,” she said. “Frankly, it starts at the top. Judy Genshaft lives in the world of possibilities.”

            For the teen advisory board members and their parents, living with diabetes is a daily challenge.

             “It’s a constant education. …You have to teach yourself,” said Robert Colon, 16, who was diagnosed just three months ago. “There’s no textbook on how to live with diabetes.”

             Nor does that education ever stop.

             “It doesn’t wait for you,” said Liz Giles, 18, a rising sophomore at the University of Tampa. “You can be on a dinner date or out with friends and you have to put everything on pause and deal with your diabetes.”

       That’s one reason these teens hope that Bringing Science Home will help people with diabetes cope with their daily challenges.

        “It means a lot to me that this is coming together,” said Carly Stagg, 14. “I feel like it’s going to treat the whole person with diabetes instead of just doctor visits or just the emotional side.”

Bringing Science Home shapes a community.

        It also gives them something else: each other.

         “It’s comforting to have all the support of other people,” said Laura Bernstein, 16.

         “It helps you feel more comfortable around other people when you have people who know what you’re going through,” said Melanie Ekizian.

Alysia Ekizian talks with Nicole Johnson about the challenges of diabetes.

      Ultimately, Alysia Ekizian said, the teens are role models for each other, helping each other deal with their disease in a more positive way.

        “It’s a mentality shared by the other kids – not ‘I’m a diabetic’ but ‘I’m a kid who happens to have diabetes,’ ‘’ she said. “This is laying the foundation for them to be able to take care of themselves and to learn they can impact the future.”

– Story by Lisa Greene, photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications

TAMPA, FL (June 11, 2010) — USF Health and The Patterson Foundation have embarked on a partnership to help people with chronic illness live happier, healthier lives.

USF Health will use a transformational $5.66 million gift from The Patterson Foundation to launch Bringing Science Home, a model program that will develop new ways of learning and caring to help people approach their lives optimistically.

The project will start by focusing on diabetes, especially in helping people transition through important life stages, and then expand to looking as other chronic illnesses, such as asthma and arthritis.

“I’m delighted that The Patterson Foundation has chosen to join with us to help people with chronic illness take an optimistic approach to their health,” said Dr. Stephen Klasko, dean of the USF College of Medicine and CEO of USF Health. “With Bringing Science Home, we will take health beyond the traditional confines of a doctor’s office and help people bring tools for better health to every aspect of their lives. It will be like giving each person diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes an ‘invisible friend’ at USF Health.”

Through its gift, The Patterson Foundation strives to honor the Patterson family legacy and transform the way people live with chronic diseases, said Debra Jacobs, president and CEO of the foundation.

“My hope is that as we partner with the University of South Florida, we will be able to create new realities of dealing with chronic disease,” Jacobs said. “We hope that patients will learn how they can manage the disease, instead of the disease controlling their lives.”

Nicole Johnson will be executive director of Bringing Science Home. Johnson, who is Miss America 1999, has been working as a director with the USF Health Diabetes Education Center. Johnson has Type 1 diabetes herself and has become a national advocate for people with diabetes.

“Bringing Science Home is all about getting into the heart and soul of people with diabetes and other chronic diseases,” Johnson said. “We want to understand their challenges, understand their frustrations, understand their daily regime and all the things that they go through, and then figure out: What is it that they need? How do we bring something to them that helps them live more optimistically, and in a more empowered fashion?”

People with diabetes often struggle with feeling judged by a number – the number of their blood sugar level. Too often, the care available for them centers only on tracking that number, rather than helping them live with the disease on a daily basis, figuring out how their disease management needs change as their lives do.

Bringing Science Home will start with researchers in the College of Public Health, studying how people with chronic illnesses learn, so as to understand best how to help them change their lifestyles and behaviors.

The project will focus on how people’s needs change as they move through important transitions, or life stages. For instance, teen-agers with diabetes often face conflict with family members and difficulties controlling their blood sugar as they move toward independence.

Bringing Science Home also will seek to better use today’s electronic technologies to help people with disease management.

“I have a pump and a sensor and a cell phone and a log book and a health team who doesn’t download any of them,” Johnson said.

The project will enlist USF scientists to develop devices that combine functions for convenience, are less bulky and more convenient, and can share information on the patient’s health condition with their medical team in real time.

The project also will work to expand the help available to another group that is often overlooked in chronic disease care: patients’ families. A disease that requires daily management challenges them as well. With diabetes, parents struggle to balance their children’s wishes for freedom with safeguarding their health. They have health questions in the middle of the night that nobody can answer. They may suffer from anxiety and depression themselves.

The Patterson Foundation became interested in partnering with USF on a diabetes initiative with USF in part because a Patterson family member had diabetes before his death. But the foundation’s effort expanded into the Bringing Science Home project because the project embodies so many of the foundation’s values, Jacobs said.

“We wanted a partner who would enthusiastically embrace an opportunity,” Jacobs said. “We live in a world of creating new realities…I hope that in a few years, that we will see people with diabetes and find that diabetes no longer owns them, but they own their lives and diabetes just happens to be a part of it.”

Ultimately, USF Health will show the way to a complete rethinking of chronic care. Bringing Science Home aims to serve as the pilot for an even larger project: finding a hospital partner to help create a Center for Lifespan Disease.

“Bringing Science Home is a great step in USF Health’s journey to revolutionize health care,” Dr. Klasko said. “We want to transform the concept of what it means to live with chronic illness.”

-USF Health-

USF Health (www.health.usf.edu) is dedicated to creating a model of health care based on understanding the full spectrum of health. It includes the University of South Florida’s colleges of medicine, nursing, and public health; the schools of biomedical sciences as well as physical therapy & rehabilitation sciences; and the USF Physicians Group. With more than $380.4 million in research grants and contracts last year, the University of South Florida is one of the nation’s top 63 public research universities and one of only 25 public research universities nationwide with very high research activity that is designated as community-engaged by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

-The Patterson Foundation -

The Patterson Foundation, based in Sarasota, Fla., seeks to motivate others to think and act beyond today’s reality and strives to generate philanthropic impact by finding innovative ways to join together with individuals and entities. The Foundation’s ultimate work can be divided into two parts. The first is to transform communities by taking novel approaches to the challenges they face. The second is to provide relief to individuals during times of crisis. For more information, please visit www.ThePattersonFoundation.org.

     New USF faculty member Laura Williams, PhD, knows this better than most.

Dr. Laura Williams, USF clinical psychologist and assistant professor of pediatrics, hands out beads at the Gasparilla Children’s Parade.

     As a clinical psychologist who specializes in treating people with diabetes, Dr. Williams works to help people understand those problems – and realize just how normal they are.

     Her empathy goes beyond her training. Dr. Williams was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes herself when she was 21. In a way, Dr. Williams says, the diagnosis was easier for her. Her mother, suspicious of her daughter’s constant thirst, did a blood test herself. And Dr. Williams’ grandmother also has type 1  diabetes, so it wasn’t a scary unknown.

     The flip side of familiarity: she knew that diabetes would affect her life each and every day.  She was anxious about whether she would be able to manage: What would she eat? Could she control her blood sugar? How often would she have to inject insulin?

     “I was very needle-phobic,” Dr. Williams recalled with a smile.

     Now 30, those fears are just a memory. She wears an insulin pump and copes with her own anxieties by helping others face theirs.

Dr. Laura Williams has joined the Diabetes Education Center at USF Health.

     Often, the hardest step is just getting diabetes patients to realize that seeing a psychologist could help.

     “I think people often have the misconception that psychologists only work with people who have severe psychological disorders,” Dr. Williams said. “I do work with people who have severe depression or anxiety, but a big part of what I do is helping people cope with fitting diabetes care into everyday life.”

     That’s why Dr. Williams has come to USF. Dr. Williams, who recently completed a fellowship and internship at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, is a North Carolina native who studied at the University of North Carolina and the University of Florida.

     Dr. Williams will play a key role in USF Health’s efforts to expand its Diabetes Education Center, dedicated to giving diabetes patients the knowledge and tools they need to manage the disease.

     “Dr. Williams is the perfect first addition to the center,” said Nicole Johnson, the center’s director of education, communication and outreach. “She brings a warmth, sensitivity and personality that is bright and encouraging. Her own challenge with diabetes makes her real to others who are living with the disease or grappling with the challenges diabetes throw toward us.”

      And diabetes can be challenging, said Dr. Williams, an assistant professor of pediatrics. Patients have to think about a chronic disease all day, every day.  That can be hard to cope with, setting the stage for individual battles with depression, anger and anxiety as well as family conflict.

      Part of the problem, Dr. Williams said, is that controlling diabetes is different for everyone.

     “People with diabetes can do all the things they’re supposed to do for their condition, and their control can still not be be where they want it to be,” she said. “That can be very frustrating.”

     The constant attention to a number — the patient’s A1C number, or average blood sugar level over time  — can make children, in particular, feel as if they are being evaluated or graded. They may feel as if they’re being labeled as “bad” or “good,” based on their latest number.

      “It can set them up for failure,” Dr. Williams said. “Children with diabetes often worry that their parents will yell at them, question them, or become upset with their numbers.”

     The problem of not knowing why a patient is having problems with control can make it difficult for families. If a teen’s diabetes isn’t well-controlled, is it because the teen isn’t following diabetes guidelines? Or are parents blaming a teenager who’s trying to do everything right?

     “Teens in particular find diabetes challenging,” Dr. Williams said. “They have other things in their lives, like friends and school, that are important to them. Diabetes isn’t always at the top of their list.  And that can lead to conflicts with their parents about the importance of their diabetes care.”

     Sometimes, Dr. Williams said, it’s hard for patients to just keep going.

     “The other thing I hear from people with diabetes is that they experience burnout,” she said. “They get tired of dealing with diabetes every single day.”

     Parents can have issues too. They have to cope with their own anxieties and fears about a child’s future complications or blood sugar lows.

 Laura Williams and Nicole Johnson show off their insulin pumps.

     Johnson said she knows Dr. Williams can help people find an answer to some of those issues.

     “She gives people comfort that it is OK to be irritated at diabetes,” Johnson said. “But it is not OK to give in to the condition.”

     Sometimes, concrete solutions are possible. For instance, the whole family may rest better at night if a child has a continuous glucose monitor with an alarm that warns of lows.

     Others take longer to develop.  As children get older and become more independent, they do more to monitor and care for their diabetes. But Dr. Williams warns this is a gradual process. It doesn’t happen overnight, and it can be difficult for parents to let go, as well as for teens to develop responsible habits.

      “That transition process can be a very difficult period of time for both teens and parents,” she said.

     Both  Johnson and Dr. Williams hope the Diabetes Education Center can do more to help teens and young adults transition to caring for their diabetes themselves. The center is developing a transition program that will help young people and their families navigate these challenges.

     In the meantime, Dr. Williams advises teens and young adults to cultivate a strong support group of family and friends who understand the risks of diabetes.

     “The people I work with who cope well with diabetes,” she said, “are those who are open about their diabetes with friends and other important people in their lives.”

Story by Lisa Greene, and photos by Eric Younghans; USF Health Communications

RELATED STORIES:
- Dreaming up a Diabetes Center
- Living with Diabetes: One Teen’s Story
- Back at USF, Former Miss America Advocates Diabetes Education

Nearly 1,500 people of all ages gathered at the University of South Florida this Saturday, Nov. 14, to stride forward together in the American Diabetes Association’s StepOut to Fight Diabetes Walk. The ADA’s signature fundraising walk, coinciding with National Diabetes Day, was held at more than 150 sites across the country.

Hosting the walk was a chance for USF to showcase its bold initiative to fight diabetes on every front – from education and research to family-centered care. The University is planning a new center for people with diabetes – an inviting place that will be a hub for the diabetes community and where patients can practice the healthy eating habits and exercise so vital to diabetes.

The USF community was an integral part of the event. Teams from across the university walked to raise funds that will support critical research, provide community-based education programs and protect the rights of people with diabetes – a chronic disease expected to confront one in three U.S. children if current trends continue.

“It was a great opportunity for us to show the Tampa Bay community our commitment and forward momentum in the fight against diabetes,” said Nicole Johnson, Miss America 1999 and director of communications and education for the USF Diabetes Center. “We were honored to partner with the ADA and play a role in fundraising for better treatment and an ultimate cure for diabetes.”

Johnson worked with the ADA to coordinate the walk, emceed the event, and led post-walk tours of the center’s new educational space. USF Health student volunteers helped conduct health screenings. Staff and faculty volunteered at booths for heart health education, stroke awareness and podiatry screening.

Adults and children had the opportunity to be screened for the TrialNet studies, which seeks to identify those with early signs of Type 1 diabetes to investigate new therapies that may halt or slow disease progression. The NIH-sponsored worldwide network of clinical studies is coordinated at USF by Jeffrey Krischer, PhD, professor and chief of epidemiology in the Department of Pediatrics.

See photo gallery of the day’s activates below:

Dr. Stephen Klasko, USF medical school dean and CEO of USF Health, gives a pep talk before the walk.

Nicole Johnson, director of communications and education for the USF Diabetes Center, greets walkers.

A zumba troupe warms up the crowd.

Walkers assemble at the starting line.

The route started and finished at USF Simmons Park near the Psychology/Communication Building.

Cara Capitena, a first-year USF medical student, checks Diana Persaud’s blood pressure.

Nicole Johnson, with daugher Ava, helped lead post-walk tours showing off the USF Diabetes Center’s new education space.

Johnson welcomes a group of young walkers to one of the Diabetes Center’s child-friendly areas.

- Story by Anne DeLotto Baier, Photos by Eric Younghans; USF Health Communicatons

      Kaitlin Spears, a 9-year-old Pinellas County resident, doesn’t let her insulin pump stop her from coloring on the floor during a USF focus group at the Children With Diabetes conference.

      If you imagined the perfect place for children with diabetes, what would it have?

      For families of these children, the list is long and varied: Health professionals who really understand diabetes. Less time waiting to be seen. Someone available to answer questions at all hours of the day, who can tell parents what to do when their child’s blood sugar is too high at midnight.

      A medical center that has healthy extras: a gym, a kitchen, and a children’s play area.

     More places to learn about diabetes and more people to teach it.

     And, maybe most of all, each other.

     “To meet other people” with diabetes, said Clearwater parent Scott Roan. “To learn from others.”

     Those were among the items on the wish list at an unusual focus group meeting hosted by USF Health Wednesday in Orlando at “Friends for Life,” an international conference sponsored by Children With Diabetes, Inc. USF invited families there to brainstorm. The university is planning a new center for people with diabetes and wanted to hear from families about their needs.

     The focus group, led by Nicole Johnson, Miss America 1999 and director of communications and education for the USF Diabetes Center, became a standing-room only crowd. It included parents and children with diabetes, as well as doctors and other health care providers.

     Two other USF Health staffers – Michael Hoad, vice president of communications, and Jay Wolfson, assistant vice president for health law, policy and safety – prepared to help Johnson lead the focus group by getting some first-hand experience. Johnson made both men spend 24 hours wearing an insulin pump. Johnson has Type 1 diabetes herself, so the ones they wore were just like hers: hot pink.

The hot pink triplets: Jay Wolfson, Nicole Johnson and Michael Hoad (L to R) show off their matching insulin pumps.   

     Parents told the USF trio that finding out your child has diabetes is an overwhelming, often isolating experience. With that moment of diagnosis, their lives changed forever – yet they often felt lost. They had been thrown into deep water with little knowledge and fewer resources.

     “You’re sent home and supposed to be Dr. Mom,” said Tampa parent Alysia Ekizian. “It would be great if there were someone you could get 24 hours. We, as parents, need constant coaching.”

      Parents often feel that they don’t have anywhere to turn for that kind of help. What’s more, outside of their children’s endocrinologists, sometimes even the medical professionals seem to know little about their problems. Roan once brought his daughter to the emergency room because she was suffering from ketosis, a condition that occurs when chemical ketones start building up in the body because insulin is too low and the body starts breaking down fat for energy. Because insulin levels are low, blood sugar levels also rise.

     “They come back and say, ‘Did you know, her sugar is high?’ ” Roan told the group with exasperation.

     Another parent said one doctor told him it was the first time he had ever seen an insulin pump.
Such stories are one reason USF Health wants to develop a center that specializes in care for diabetes, Wolfson said. Studies have shown that when diabetes patients need other medical care, whether it’s for having knee surgery or giving birth, caring for their diabetes often gets lost in the shuffle.

     “Things break down a lot,” Wolfson said. “They don’t seem to be able to coordinate with your diabetes.”

     Health care providers aren’t the only ones with that problem, said Holly Plotts, a Pennsylvania mom whose teen-age daughter has diabetes. Parents sometimes find that schools are reluctant to let children check their sugar or carry snacks, and may not know that federal law requires them to accommodate diabetes.

     Pennsylvania cardiologist Bob Bulgarelli told the group that he envisions a diabetes center where patients don’t feel like they’re visiting an uncomfortable doctor’s office. No exam rooms with paper on the tables, he said. Lamps and cozy furniture. A gym and a kitchen, so people can practice the healthy eating and exercise habits that are so important to diabetes.

     Cardiologist Bob Bulgarelli talks about what diabetes patients need.

     “It needs to be more than your standard terrible box office,” Dr. Bulgarelli said. “It can be a place they can spend the day.”

     Again and again, parents returned to the importance of having children be able to meet other children with diabetes . They want their kids to play with other kids who wear insulin pumps. Kids who don’t think it’s weird to check your blood sugar. Kids who understand how you feel when your blood sugar gets low.

     The best part of the Orlando conference, parents said, was to watch their children doing exactly that. Imagine a center where parents could do that in their own hometown, said Adina Singer, of Quebec. She envisioned a place that would provide health care, yet also be something of a hub for the diabetes community. It could host support groups, social events, even the occasional party.

     “You want to recruit families. You want families to join you and stay with you for years and years,” Singer said. “You want to create something that’s more inviting… A place where people are going to want to come.”

      — Story and photos by Lisa Greene, USF Health Communications

Who says exercise can’t be fun? Grace Emery jumps on her mini-trampoline when her blood sugar gets too high.

Grace Emery loves jumping on her mini-trampoline but already dreams of law school.

She makes plans for a high-school trip but wears a sweatshirt from George Washington University.

She still gets squeamish just looking at her own veins but knows too much about grown-up fears.

Grace is 17, and she has Type I diabetes.

So she fits a chronic disease, one that demands attention and energy every day, into her life, around the tennis team and her fencing class and the sailing on Lake Tarpon and the once-in-a-lifetime trip to see Barack Obama become president.

“It’s a huge part of my life,” Grace said of her diabetes, “But I don’t let it limit what I can and can’t do.”

So yes, Grace went to see the inauguration with a teen leadership group she has belonged to for years. Just like all the other kids, she partied at a youth Inaugural Ball, heard Colin Powell speak, and watched the ceremony by the reflecting pool.

She just carried extras with her: a backpack with snacks and insulin pens. A stash of extra insulin pens back at the hotel, just in case.

Sometimes it’s hard. There are no days off, no coffee breaks, no rest stops. When you have diabetes, you can’t escape it.

“Even when you try to forget about it, you don’t,” she said. “It’s always, always, always, always there.”

So you just go on with it.

Grace and her mom, Mary Ellen, work on fixing healthy meals to help keep Grace’s diabetes under control.

Growing up in north Pinellas County, Grace lived an idyllic childhood: sailing on Lake Tarpon, playing volleyball, enrolling at Berkeley Preparatory School.

Everything changed when Grace was 14.

She didn’t realize anything serious was wrong. She got her blood work done for a temporary condition and the results were puzzling. Her blood sugar was sky-high. Grace got on the internet herself and looked up diabetes, and saw all the symptoms she had. She’d lost 15 pounds for no reason. She was always thirsty and always running to the bathroom.

Dr. Frank Diamond, a pediatrics professor with the USF College of Medicine, gave her the official diagnosis.

It was two days before Christmas. Her mother still cries when she thinks about it.

“It was just devastating,” said Mary Ellen Emery. “You just want to pull the sheets over your head, and then you think, you have to be the mom, and you go do the mom thing. But it’s not an easy diagnosis.”

The family had planned a holiday ski trip. Instead, Grace spent winter break learning about diabetes: how to change her diet, how to check her blood sugar, how to give herself injections.

“She’s a survivor,” her mom said.

It was an adjustment for the rest of the family too. Grace’s father, Ken, can no longer bring home bagels on a whim. Mary Ellen makes an effort not to focus family events and celebrations around meals. Ken helps Grace plan her injection schedule for trips.

“It’s what life is,” Mary Ellen said. “It’s not what we were bargaining for. But with love and faith and prayer and hope, you do it. Grace does a great job.”

Grace relies on the support of her parents, Ken and Mary Ellen Emery, to help her with the challenges of diabetes.

The injections were easier than Grace thought they would be. She was afraid she’d have to stick needles in her veins. Instead, she uses insulin pens, with short needles she injects directly into her skin, most often in her stomach or thigh, about five times a day.

Each day, Grace takes two kinds of insulin: two shots of a long-acting insulin to keep her blood sugar steady throughout the day, 23 mg. in the morning, 23 mg. at night.

She checks her blood sugar before school and has about five units of her fast-acting insulin just before breakfast.

Then it’s on to school, where she checks her blood sugar again and takes more insulin just before lunch. She tries to decide what she’ll eat first, so she’ll know how much insulin to take. She always carries snacks with her; her teachers know she has diabetes and don’t mind if she eats during class.

After school, it’s on to tennis practice or home. Sometimes, she’ll take more insulin.

Grace checks her sugar again just before dinner, and takes more insulin – usually six to eight units — just before she eats.

Then she checks a final time before bed.

A few times each month, her sugar drops too low during the night.

“I wake up in a cold sweat,” she said. Then she comes downstairs and has something to eat.

Last year, Grace’s orderly routine shattered. She stopped taking her insulin. It’s still hard for her to explain why.

“It was just a phase,” she said. “For a week, I was lazy.”

What began as rebellion became something worse. After two weeks of not taking her insulin, she found she had lost 15 pounds.

So she kept skipping it – for three or four months. She lied about taking her shots, so Mary Ellen began insisting on watching her. Then she started pretending to inject herself, using the pen without delivering insulin. They argued about trust, about independence.

“It became constant monitoring,” Mary Ellen recalled. “It was very hard, and very, very scary.”

What Grace did isn’t unusual for diabetic teen girls. Many struggle to cope with managing a disease that requires compulsive attention to diet while navigating the body image worries of growing up. Dr. Diamond had warned Grace and Mary Ellen about deliberate weight loss, sometimes called “diabulimia,” when she was first diagnosed.

Grace had sworn never to try it.

Skipping insulin doses can cause weight loss because the body, unable to break down sugar without insulin, excretes it in urine. But it is dangerous – and Grace found that out firsthand. Without her insulin, her blood sugar levels soared. One day her vision suddenly became blurry. She couldn’t see anything clearly, not even objects a few feet away.

“I really couldn’t see,” she said. “I thought I was going blind.”

She knew she had to get her blood sugar back under control.

Grace had to visit an eye specialist and wear magnifying glasses for a while, but she was lucky. She learned her lesson without doing permanent damage to her eyes.

“It’s a huge part of my life, but I don’t let it limit what I can and can’t do,” Grace Emery, 17, says of her Type I diabetes.

These days, Grace has learned to balance her diabetes with a full round of school and extracurricular activities. Exercise helps control diabetes, and Grace plays on the school tennis team and takes a fencing class. She keeps a mini-trampoline out back to jump on when her blood sugar gets high – or just for fun.

At school, she’s involved in model United Nations, a teen court program and the Chinese Club. She’s been accepted early decision at George Washington, and says she wants to be a lawyer “because that’s the best way to change the world.” Her interest in politics led to the inauguration trip with the Presidential Youth Inaugural Conference.

Still… Grace has fears about the future as well. Every child with diabetes fears the complications that can come later with the disease, she said, and she rattled off a list: “My heart, my hands, my feet.”

Her biggest worry is whether she’ll be able to have children.

But Grace tries to keep those fears in perspective. After all, if she’s afraid of the future, at least she’s spent more time thinking about what lies ahead and what her goals are. With fear comes maturity and strength.

“I try to see it as a positive,” she said.

And that’s the advice she gives to other kids who have just been diagnosed.

“You may think it’s a little scary at first,” she said. “I know I did… Be strong and believe in yourself, and know you can do it.”

Related Stories:
USF Targets Diabetes

- Story by Lisa Greene, USF Health Communications
- Photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications

Miss America 1999 Nicole Johnson, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes while a USF student, has joined the USF diabetes team.

USF Targets Diabetes

When Nicole Johnson first heard she had diabetes, she was a USF student. Alone and scared, she reacted to the news with a gesture of defiance: downing an entire 2-liter bottle of sugary Coke herself.

Now Johnson is back at USF. But she’s not the frightened student she once was. Johnson became Miss America in 1999, and she has transformed herself into one of the nation’s best-known advocates for diabetes education.

During her year as Miss America, Johnson criss-crossed the United States, preaching the importance of diabetes awareness. She showed off her insulin pump to kids who’d never seen one before. She helped convince thousands of people to get tested for diabetes.

Most of all, Johnson proved that having diabetes doesn’t have to close the door on your dreams.

After her term as Miss America, Johnson was offered a TV news job in a major market. But she turned it down, because she had already found her calling. Instead, Johnson has continued to speak out on behalf of people with diabetes. Now 35, she hosts a weekly TV show, dLifeTV, on CNBC, and operates her own Nicole Johnson Foundation to improve diabetes education. She serves on health advisory boards, consults for diabetes companies, and has written four books.

Nicole brings that same passion to helping USF expand its diabetes education programs and research capabilities.

“I’m so thrilled to be part of the USF diabetes team now,” Johnson said. “I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes while I was a student here at USF, so it’s just a really special full-circle type of moment for me.”

Because Johnson knows firsthand just how hard it is to be diagnosed with diabetes, she is acutely concerned with counseling and education available for people with diabetes. Health providers need to help people with diabetes understand how to manage diabetes in their daily lives, with plans adjusted for their special needs.

“Diabetes education all over this country is lacking a very specific thing, and that’s reality,” Johnson said. “We have to meet patients and families where they are, in their lifestyle, and tailor diabetes management to how they live.”

That education needs to include the patient’s family, as well as the patient, she said. Often the entire family needs to adjust their meals. And family members need to recognize the signs of a bad diabetes reaction or other medical problem.

Johnson also is pushing for more psychological counseling for people with diabetes and more discussion of the emotional impact of the disease.

“It’s incredibly overwhelming,” she said. “All of a sudden, in one second – ‘you have diabetes’ – your entire world changes. It flips, from how you exercise to how you function in your daily life, to what you eat, what your family eats, what you feed your children.”

Doctors, health educators and patients don’t talk enough about the emotional impact of diabetes, she said. But a disease that governs the choices you make every day inevitably affects your well-being.

The constant attention to diet can affect a patient’s body image. The label “diabetic” can make a patient feel damaged or broken. The constant testing can make patients anxious or parents unable to sleep, afraid they might miss their child’s health crisis.

“When you’re looking at the meters and the monitors and looking at what the number of your blood sugar is, you’re often making a judgment of your self-worth,” Johnson said. “Or parents make a judgment of ‘how good a parent am I,’ based on that number. The psychosocial and emotional impact is tremendous. And it never stops.”

As a diabetes patient, Johnson also is excited about the possibilities that USF’s research could create for fighting the disease. She first became a participant in a clinical research trial three years ago, when she was pregnant with her daughter, Ava Grace.

During that trial, Johnson was fascinated to learn that her blood sugar control actually improved while she was pregnant. Such changes make her realize the potential for helping diabetes patients through research.

Johnson and her daughter also participated in two trials overseen by Jeffrey Krischer, PhD, the USF professor of pediatrics coordinating international studies on ways to prevent diabetes. So far, Ava Grace hasn’t shown any signs of the disease.

“We are doing everything we can to be part of the solution to diabetes,” Johnson said. “And that’s a message we want to take to other families all around this area.”

- Story by Lisa Greene, USF Health Communications
- Photos by Klaus Herdocia, USF Health Communications

USF is launching on a bold new plan to fight diabetes on every front with its Center of Excellence for Diabetes and Autoimmune Disorders. Already a national leader in epidemiological research to understand and prevent diabetes, USF is working to dramatically increase its clinical research, expand its diabetes education program, and establish a comprehensive center that will offer patients a new level of care in Florida. USF hopes to build facilities to conduct research on possible cures for diabetes, in both outpatient and inpatient settings.  More…

• USF’s Dr. Jeffrey Krischer has won more than $390 million in federal grant funding to study the causes of Type 1 diabetes, as well as how to prevent and treat the disease. USF has named Krischer to fill the new Endowed Chair in Diabetes Research at USF Health. More…

• USF is working to provide Florida residents the best information available about diabetes at its Diabetes Center, one of three approved by state legislators. We are deeply committed to leading the fight against diabetes, a devastating disease that affects more Americans every day. More…

Back at USF, former Miss America advocates diabetes education
Nicole Johnson, Miss America 1999, is a USF graduate and leading advocate for diabetes education. She’s helping USF with its diabetes initiative. Check out Nicole Johnson’s official website at www.nicolejohnson.com

Living with Diabetes: One Teen’s Story
Grace Emery loves jumping on her mini-trampoline but already dreams of law school. Grace is 17, and she has Type I diabetes.

Dreaming up a diabetes center
Parents of children with diabetes share their visions for health care with USF.

• Diabetes researcher brings $389M to USF
The St. Petersburg Times PDF |  Web Article

• Record Research Dollars Shows USF Making Giant Strides
The Tampa Tribune PDF

• People to Watch
Maddux Business Report PDF

• Decoding Diabetes
USF Magazine Winter 2008 PDF

Tampa, FL (Dec. 1, 2008) – Jeffrey Krischer, PhD, has been appointed to fill a new $1.4 million Endowed Chair in Diabetes Research at USF Health – another step in the university’s ambitious initiative to create a nationally prominent program in diabetes and autoimmune disorders.

The university-bestowed endowment will build upon the success of the Diabetes and Pediatrics Epidemiology Centers directed by Dr. Krischer, professor and chief of epidemiology in the Department of Pediatrics. Under his leadership, USF has become a preeminent force in international studies of the epidemiology of Type 1 diabetes and clinical trials for diabetes prevention and treatment. The incidence of Type 1 diabetes, epidemic among children, has doubled worldwide since the 1980s.

“The research in diabetes complements our other projects in rare diseases, many of which also have an autoimmune component and may share common etiological pathways,” said Dr. Krischer, who directs 50-plus researchers with expertise in developing and applying new technologies and informatics to medicine. “I believe we have the right combination of science and strategy to be able to eliminate Type I diabetes for the next generation.”

Dr. Krischer’s team has attracted a record total of $389 million in research funding to USF. His latest National Institutes of Health award – a $127.7-million TrialNet contract to coordinate worldwide studies that look for new ways to prevent and treat Type I diabetes – is expected to catapult USF into the top 50 U.S. medical schools in NIH funding. In addition to the TrialNet award, Dr. Krischer is principal investigator of a 10-year, $169-million NIH contract to lead the data coordinating and technology center for TEDDY, a study identifying environmental triggers of Type I diabetes.

Both TrialNet and TEDDY are being carried out on an international stage through NIH-sponsored clinical sites in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. None of these patient-oriented research sites are currently in the Tampa Bay region – something that USF wants to change.

“Without a doubt, Dr. Krischer’s research excellence has strategically positioned USF to create an integrated program for controlling and treating diabetes and aggressively working toward its eradication,” said Stephen Klasko, MD, MBA, CEO for USF Health and dean of the College of Medicine. “The Tampa Bay area has excellent physicians caring for children and adults with diabetes, but to advance to the next level of care we must create a world-class clinical research and comprehensive care facility for patients with diabetes and related complications. It would offer patients in our community the opportunity to be part of the science that leads to a cure.”

USF will use the Endowed Chair in Diabetes Research as a catalyst for private donations and additional endowments to support a campus-wide, fully integrated signature program in diabetes and autoimmune disorders. The university plans to begin recruiting an interdisciplinary team of basic, translational and clinical researchers, educators, physician-scientists and health care professionals needed to establish a multi-use clinical research center and diabetes education center at USF Health’s north campus.

“Such a center would provide patients with diabetes and related autoimmune disorders access to the same state-of-the art clinical trials that Dr. Krischer is overseeing globally,” said Abdul Rao, MD, MA, DPhil, senior associate vice president for USF Health and vice dean for research and graduate studies for the College of Medicine. “It would play a critical role in advancing the standard and quality of care in the Greater Tampa Bay area and beyond for patients suffering from diabetes and autoimmune disorders.”

Type I diabetes is one of the most common and serious long-term diseases in children and adolescents. It is a disease in which the body’s immune system attacks the cells that make insulin – a hormone that keeps blood sugar levels stable. Its treatment requires a life-long commitment to daily insulin injections and significant lifestyle changes.

- USF Health –

USF Health is dedicated to creating a model of health care based on understanding the full spectrum of health. It includes the University of South Florida’s colleges of medicine, nursing, and public health; the schools of biomedical sciences as well as physical therapy & rehabilitation sciences; and the USF Physicians Group. With more than $360 million in research grants and contracts last year, USF is one of the nation’s top 63 public research universities and one of 39 community-engaged, four-year public universities designated by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. For more information, visit www.health.usf.edu

Virtually every major center conducting type 1 diabetes research is now linked to the USF Pediatric Epidemiology Center led by Jeffrey Krischer, PhD

Tampa, FL (July 31, 2008) — The National Institutes of Health has awarded $127.7 million to the University of South Florida research team led by Jeffrey Krischer, PhD, to coordinate worldwide studies on the prevention and treatment of juvenile diabetes. This latest funding, a seven-year award, supports Dr. Krischer’s coordination of the NIH network of clinical research centers known as TrialNet.

The award adds to the $169 million received last year by Dr. Krischer, a professor of pediatrics, to coordinate studies examining the causes of juvenile diabetes. That previously funded 10-year NIH study, known as TEDDY (The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young), is seeking to explain why the incidence of diabetes in the very young has doubled since the 1980s. The $169-million contract was the largest in USF’s history.

“Dr. Krischer’s new TrialNet award will catapult USF to the top 50 for NIH funding to medical schools,” said Stephen Klasko, MD, MBA, senior vice president for USF Health and dean of the College of Medicine. “Almost every major effort worldwide to eliminate type 1 diabetes for the next generation comes through here.”

“Jeff sees connections other people don’t see. He uses tools in new ways to solve very complex problems,” said Karen Holbrook, PhD, Vice President for Research at USF. “It’s an extraordinary program that is doing as much as any program today for people around the globe. It is innovative, and it is important.”

“Jeff’s efforts continue to enhance our excellence in research in the area of diabetes and related diseases”, said Abdul S. Rao, MD. MA. DPhil, Senior Associate Vice President, USF Health. “This current grant goes a long way in establishing USF’s dominance in this field and the recognition by the NIH of the extraordinary scientific strides that have been made by Jeff and his colleagues”.

Type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile diabetes, is one of the most common and serious long-term diseases in children and adolescents. It is a disease in which the body’s immune system attacks the cells that make insulin – a hormone that keeps blood sugar levels stable. Its treatment requires a life-long commitment to daily insulin injections and significant lifestyle changes.

TrialNet will screen more than 150,000 children and adults, identifying those with early signs of diabetes to investigate new therapies that may arrest disease progression. Other studies include treatments of newly diagnosed patients to prevent continued loss of insulin production capability. These treatments, if proven successful, may be tested to determine if they can yield new prevention strategies. In addition to heading the data coordinating and technology center for TrialNet, Dr. Krischer chairs one of the major prevention studies within the consortium – a clinical trial investigating whether oral insulin can prevent or delay diabetes in a specific group of people at risk for type 1 diabetes.

TEDDY is screening more than 300,000 newborns and following 8,000 for up to 15 years to investigate the role that diet, infections, and other environmental factors may play in the disease process. Dr. Krischer chairs the study itself as well as directing TEDDY’s data coordinating center.

Both TrialNet and TEDDY are being carried out on an international stage through clinical sites in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand

The two projects complement each other, with virtually every major university and medical center conducting type 1 diabetes research now linked to Dr. Krischer’s Pediatric Epidemiology Center at USF. The center is pooling the clinical consortiums’ efforts to understand the triggers of diabetes and to develop strategies to prevent or improve treatment. Data describing the everyday lives of study participants, results from research laboratories across the globe, and the clinical course of the disease in affected individuals flow into USF on a continual basis.

All that data is analyzed at USF and shared with scientists, clinicians and investigators worldwide with the goal of putting an end to type 1 diabetes, Dr. Krischer said. “This team effort would not be possible without the outstanding group of 50-plus researchers at USF working on these studies. They are recognized world experts in developing new technologies and informatics applied to medicine,” he said. “The research in diabetes complements our other projects in rare diseases, many of which are also autoimmune diseases and share a common etiological pathway. The hope is that our efforts can lead to improvements for all those affected.”

Dr. Krischer, an epidemiologist, has attracted more than $389 million in research funding to USF.

- USF Health -

USF Health is dedicated to creating a model of health care based on understanding the full spectrum of health. It includes the University of South Florida’s colleges of medicine, nursing, and public health; the schools of biomedical sciences as well as physical therapy & rehabilitation sciences; and the USF Physicians Group. With $308 million in research funding last year, USF is one of the nation’s top 63 public research universities and one of Florida’s top three research universities.