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Elizabeth Fenjves, Ph.D., is Director of Gene Therapy at the Diabetes Research Institute. She is also an Associate Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Miami.

Dr. Fenjves’ research over the last 10 years has been focused on exploring the transfer of therapeutic genes to treat metabolic disorders. Her lab has been researching two major areas of investigation.

In the first, viral vectors are being tested, which will allow efficient, stable and safe transfer of genes that protect islets in the transplant setting.

In the second area, she is examining the efficacy of different genes in protecting islets as part of the effort to optimize islet transplantation as a cure for type 1 diabetes.

Dr. Fenjves has published her findings in journals such as Human Gene Therapy, Diabetes and Transplantation. She holds an independent research grant from the American Diabetes Association and is a participant in a Center Grant from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

She is an active member of the American Society for Gene Therapy, The International Society of Transplantation and The American Transplantation Society.

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Kathryn (Kassie) Gregorio Palmer is the 2004 winner of the Bayer Ascensia Dream Fund® Contest, which recognizes and supports the achievements of people with diabetes.  With the proceeds from the Dream Fund contest, Kassie has authored and published a book entitled, "When You're a Parent with Diabetes: A Real Life Guide to Staying Healthy while Raising a Family."

Kassie's book, currently being distributed by Bayer HealthCare Diabetes Care Division, discusses the steps necessary in preparing for parenthood when you have type 1 or type 2 diabetes, including understanding genetics, preparing for a pregnancy, and considering adoption.  However, based on her own experience of two difficult but successful pregnancies with diabetes, Kassie also wanted to explore life with diabetes after baby arrives. Managing diabetes while caring for a newborn or chasing after a toddler brought new challenges like remembering to check blood sugars, finding time for exercise and healthy eating, and worrying about tough low blood sugars while alone with a young child. Tips and tricks from other parents help make tackling those challenges more manageable.

Kassie is a mother of two who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when she was 18. She currently works as lead database developer for New England INDEX, a resource for people with disabilities, and was previously Director of Programs at The Barton Center for Diabetes Education in North Oxford, MA. Kathryn lives in Virginia with her husband and sons.

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Dr. Aaron Kowalski is a Director of Strategic Research Projects at the JDRF and leads the research efforts of the JDRF Artificial Pancreas Projects, a multi-million dollar initiative aimed at acceleration of progress towards a closed-loop automated insulin-delivery system and diabetes technologies that will improve blood sugar control in people with diabetes. In this role, Dr. Kowalski oversees the JDRF-funded research in the area of diabetes technologies. Dr. Kowalski joined the JDRF research staff in 2004 as a Scientific Program Manager working in the area of diabetic complications and assumed is current position in 2006. Prior to arriving at JDRF, Dr. Kowalski received his Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics from Rutgers University and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Dr. Kowalski and his brother Stephen have lived with type 1 diabetes for over 22 and 29 years respectively.

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Alberto Pugliese, M.D., is a Research Associate Professor of Medicine, Immunology and Microbiology, and head of the Immunogenetics Program at the Diabetes Research Institute.

Since joining the DRI in 1994, the main focus of Dr. Pugliese’s research is studying and characterizing the natural mechanisms of genetic resistance to insulin-dependent diabetes.

Much of Dr. Pugliese’s important findings in the field of immunogenetics involve the body’s regulation of the self-antigens in thymus and other lymphoid organs which are thought to be important mechanisms of predisposition to type 1 diabetes.

Dr. Pugliese has continued to study and make headway with the cells of the immune system that express insulin and other self-molecules/IDDM autoantigens.

Dr. Pugliese is well published and currently serves as a reviewer for many peer-reviewed journals.

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Tuesday, April 24, 2007 at 9:00 PM EST.

James S. Hirsch, author of "Cheating Destiny: Living With Diabetes, America's Biggest Epidemic"

James Hirsch, a former reporter for The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, is a best-selling author whose latest book, "Cheating Destiny" was published in late 2006. It is Jim's fourth book.

Jim has lived with type 1 diabetes himself since age 15; his brother, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 6, is now a nationally prominent diabetes doctor in Seattle. And in the course of researching "Cheating Destiny," Hirsch diagnosed his son, then 3 years old, with type 1 diabetes, too.

While a diagnosis of diabetes in a child is traumatic for any parent, in some ways, Mr. Hirsch knows better than most parents what lies in his son's future: a lifetime of finger pricks, insulin injections -- and the ever-present risk of disability. Consequently, he brings a powerful, emotional perspective about this condition that goes beyond simply being a well-researched book.

Jim is also a principal of Close Concerns, a consultancy and publishing company that specializes in the business of diabetes. His work includes writing a column for a new patient newsletter on diabetes, called diaTribe. Jim has an undergraduate degree from the University of Missouri School of Journalism and a graduate degree from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas. He currently lives in the Boston area with his wife, Sheryl, and their children, Amanda and Garrett.

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Thursday, May 10, 9pm est

Deb Butterfield author of "Showdown with Diabetes"

The next chat is with an author who, for many people with diabetes, needs no introduction, Deb Butterfield, author of the book "Showdown with Diabetes". Deb founded the Insulin-Free World Foundation in 1996, and until she adopted her second daughter in 2005, Deb operated the DiabetesPortal family of websites, a group of diabetes-centric websites that was an interactive online diabetes community. The sites included a popular chatroom called DiabetesStation, a quarterly publication called Insulin-Free TIMES and a news page called DiabetesDailyNews just to name a few. Collectively, the websites at DiabetesPortal.com received approximately 3.5 million hits and 350,000 impressions per month.

Deb was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1970 at the age of 10. After receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Colorado, Deb worked for an executive search firm in New York City before starting her own consulting practice specializing in recruiting and strategic planning for financial brokerage firms in New York and London. But from 1992 to 1994, Deb's career was interrupted by the secondary complications of diabetes and a failed kidney and pancreas transplant. She had a successful kidney and pancreas transplant in 1994.

Deb was the 1998 recipient of the prestigious Scripps Whittier Confidence Award given annually to a person deemed to have made a significant contribution to improving the quality of life for people with diabetes. In June 2001, Deb was the first non-surgeon/researcher to be elected to the council of the International Pancreas and Islet Transplantation Association. In October 2001, she was likewise elected to the council of the Cell Transplant Society.

Deb currently lives in the St. Louis area with her husband Tom and her two daughters. The date for this program is still being finalized, but will most likely occur in early May.

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Tuesday, May 22, 9pm est

Amy Tenderich author of Know Your Numbers, Outlive Your Diabetes, (www.diabetesmine.com)

Amy Tenderich is a freelance journalist based in San Francisco, CA.  She holds a BA in Journalism from Cal State Long Beach and an MA in Communication Studies from UC Santa Barbara. She began her career as a journalist, and has experience in magazine editing, marketing and PR.  Following two stints overseas and 13 years of communications work in the Silicon Valley technology industry, she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in May 2003, and subsequently launched DiabetesMine.com, “a gold mine of straight talk and encouragement for people living with diabetes” — for which she recently received the LillyforLife Achievement Award™ for diabetes journalism.

As a relatively new Type 1 diabetic and mother of three, Tenderich takes an unusual “cynically optimistic” view of the trials of living with diabetes.  She speaks creatively and from the heart — to people with diabetes and their family, friends, and community — on topics ranging from inside looks at diabetes research and breaking news to daily life with diabetes to uncovering the diabetics’ deepest hopes and fears.  And she can make you chuckle.

Tenderich and DiabetesMine.com have been featured in the Wall St. Journal, the UK Guardian, TechCrunch, NPR’s Future Tense, and a number of other influential blogs and publications.  DiabetesMine.com itself was named one of three most influential blogs in healthcare at the 2006 Healthcare Blogging Summit.

Tenderich recently collaborated with Dr. Richard Jackson, a leading physician from Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston to co-author the new book, “Know Your Numbers, Outlive Your Diabetes” — hailed as the first-ever straightforward guidebook providing a clear strategy for living well with diabetes and avoiding the long-term health damage it can cause. 


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Lisa Roney author of "Sweet Invisible Body: Reflections on a Life With Diabetes"
DATE TO BE ANNOUNCED

Last, but certainly not least, is a chat with an author who broke new ground when her autobiography "Sweet Invisible Body: Reflections on a Life With Diabetes" was first published in August 1999. I'm speaking of none other than Lisa Roney. As some D-Bloggers may recall, Kerri interviewed Lisa back in February. I've had the pleasure of exchanging periodic e-mails with Lisa since 2005.

Lisa, who grew up in Tennessee, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1972 at age 11. Since then, diabetes has turned her life into an ongoing balancing act. She began her book after deciding that society had denied diabetes its stature as a serious illness. As she told Kerri in February, "There were books written by the deaf, the blind, those with cancer ... but nothing about diabetes."

Lisa told The New York Times reporter "As I tried to learn to understand myself, it was natural for me to look to books and there was not much out there. All kinds of other ailments have figured in literature and cultural studies, But for some reason, diabetes was not included."

"Sweet Invisible Body" was the one of the first books published during a relatively short timeframe earlier this decade regarding life with diabetes. (Deb Butterfield's "Showdown with Diabetes" was also among the books reviewed by The New York Times back in 2000, as was Andie Dominick's "Needles: A Memoir of Growing Up With Diabetes".) Since August 2003, Lisa Roney has been a professor who is on a tenure track at the University of Central Florida.

Lisa has told me that since her book was first published, she has since become a convert to the pump. She adds that her pump has made life much more "normal". Although she says "It's still a pain, and there are always issues with MiniMed, but I do love the pump. I sometimes even lose track of time now, and though that's not something that most people would think of as an accomplishment, I do!"

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