We asked patients to share their sentiments about current diabetes technology and what they feel are the biggest unmet needs. We gave folks the freedom to submit material in video, slides, or photo image format, and were delighted with the quality of responses.
Please watch the resulting video, based on submissions to the 2013 Patient Voices Contest:
Each of our winners received a scholarship to attend and participate in the 2013 DiabetesMine Innovation Summit event that took place at Stanford School of Medicine on Nov. 15, 2013.
- Christel Aprigliano, a type 1 D-blogger and active advocate who submitted a compelling appeal for a holistic approach to diabetes care.
- Simon Carter, longtime type 1 himself and parent of a T1 child also living with celiac, and creator of a new “prediction system” called ManageBGL.com.
- Corinna Cornejo, a type 2 who works with the Diabetes Hands Foundation, and created an excellent presentation on the need for information, not just data.
- Allison Dunning, type 1, who’s passionate about the use of “big data” to inform improved diabetes care for us all.
- Melissa Lee, another active type 1 D-blogger who presented an innovative idea for an “Insu-litmus” test to help us gauge whether our insulin is still effective.
- Kyle McClain, a software developer diagnosed with type 2 in 2010 who “immediately began looking for tools to help me manage my diabetes.” Not liking what he found, he began creating his own tool called Gludi.
- Julia Neese, a type 1 from Germany, who presented a very intelligent assessment of three key themes: bionic pancreas, data management, and affordability.
- Shelley Spector, a type 1 herself and devoted D-parent, who presented many good points on engaging kids, issues with D-teens wanting to hide it, and how hospitals and payers can benefit from providing us with better tools up-front.
- Scott Strange, well-known type 1 D-blogger, who focused on the need to emphasize the psychological side of diabetes: “The mental and emotional side for me has been a lot worse than the physical side,” he says.
- Amy Tekrony, a Canadian type 1 and aspiring endocrinologist, who created a compelling video on the pressing need for changes in diabetes technology.
CONGRATULATIONS and THANK YOU for your interest and participation, all!
That goes for our diabetes tech survey, as well; at final count we had nearly 900 participants in that research project!
Results were presented at the 2013 Summit, and also published in detail here.