JDRF & Beyond Type 1 CEOs Explain Their New Alliance (Bonus Episode)
Diabetes Connections | Type 1 Diabetes
Release Date: 10/16/2019
Diabetes Connections | Type 1 Diabetes
Approved last year, Tandem’s Mobi is now widely available. We’re getting an update from Ben Mar, Director of Product Marketing, on the features of the Mobi that make this tiny pump different and we look ahead to what Tandem is working on next. Ben also answers your questions about everything from algorithm updates, international access, and much more This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. Find out more about Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! Learn more about ...
info_outline "It needs to be easier" - DIY pioneer Dana Lewis turns her attention to exercise and T1DDiabetes Connections | Type 1 Diabetes
This week, one of the pioneers of the DIY movement is turning her attention to exercise. Dana Lewis is partnering with other researchers to create a tool to help you make better and easier decisions around whatever workout you choose. There’s a lot of variability here – big difference between say, weight lifting and long distance running – so this is no easy task. Dana will explain the tools they’re using, the big goals here, and we get to catch up about what she’s using these days to manage her life with T1D which now includes ultramarathoning. This podcast is not intended as...
info_outline In the News... ATTD updates, new CGMs, drops for diabetes eye disease, scholarships and more!Diabetes Connections | Type 1 Diabetes
It's In the News! A look at the top diabetes stories and headlines happening now. Top stories this week: The annual ATTD conference wraps up with news about CGMs, including new FDA approvals and a look at CGMs outside of the US, new eyedrops are being studied to treat diabetic eye disease and Beyond Type 1 opens applications for their annual Beyond Scholars. Transcript and links below Find out more about Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! Learn more about from extreme temperatures Learn more about Drive The best way to keep up with Stacey and...
info_outline Behind the Wheel with T1D: Navigating Teen Driving and DiabetesDiabetes Connections | Type 1 Diabetes
Let's talk about driving with diabetes! Getting a driver’s license as a teenager comes with enough challenges without type 1, but letting your child with T1D get behind the wheel is stressful, to say the least! I’m sharing what worked for us and expert advice that may help you and tips to let technology be your friend in the car. This is an excerpt of Stacey's book, "Still the World's Worst Diabetes Mom." It's the second book in her series. You can learn more about the books or on Learn more about that Stacey mentions here. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have...
info_outline Addressing the “shocking” lack of research into T1D & periods - Tidepool's Period ProjectDiabetes Connections | Type 1 Diabetes
This week, addressing something that half of all people with diabetes experience but that there is woefully little information and study about. Why is there so little study about periods and type 1 diabetes? We’re talking to two organizations who are teaming up to change that – but they need your help. We’re talking about Tidepool's Period Project. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. You'll hear from Martina Rothenbühler, project leader data sciences and data protection officer at DCB, and Maya...
info_outline In the News... MicroGlucagon to speed up insulin, SGLT2 & false positive tests, FDA warns about non-invasive glucose monitors and more!Diabetes Connections | Type 1 Diabetes
It’s In the News, a look at the top stories and headlines from the diabetes community happening now. Top stories this week: what is MicroGlucagon and how could it speed up existing rapid-acting insulin? SGLT2 medications may cause false positive alcohol tests, red light therapy for type 2 diabetes, research shows teens with type 2 might have a different kind of diabetes altogether, FDA warns against non-invasive glucose monitoring and more! Find out more about Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! Learn more about from extreme temperatures Learn...
info_outline “It’s the Chaos Lottery & our ticket got pulled” - Sarah Stewart Holland on parenting a child with T1DDiabetes Connections | Type 1 Diabetes
She calls it the Chaos Lottery – and says we all have different ways of dealing with what life throws our way. I’m talking to Sarah Stewart Holland, host of the huge podcast Pantsuit Politics about her family’s journey with diabetes – her young son was diagnosed almost two years ago. She has a lot to say about parenting a child with a chronic condition – this is not her son’s first serious diagnosis – and also about roles and identity and being a person without type 1 whos’ raising a person with type 1. It’s a lot and it’s great. This interview was taped at Moms' Night Out...
info_outline "I needed to take my own advice" - Catching up with advocate Chris RudenDiabetes Connections | Type 1 Diabetes
We are far away from New Year’s resolutions and it’s feeling a little wintry and dreary around here. Good time to get some motivation and check in with Chris Ruden. Many of you know likely - from his appearance on the Titan games, his bodybuilding videos or maybe it’s the videos where he shows his prosthetic hand. Chris has a lot to say about where all of that has brought him and what’s different for him now. He also uses the implantable Eversense CGM – always a lot of questions about that, so I asked him all about it. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have...
info_outline In the News.. Tandem Mobi released, surprising outcomes for type 2 surgery, exercise and diabetes studies, T1D at the Super Bowl, and more!Diabetes Connections | Type 1 Diabetes
It’s In the News, a look at the top stories and headlines from the diabetes community happening now. Top stories this week: Tandem announces it's taking orders and starting to ship the Mobi pump, Insulet gets European approval for the Abbott Libre integration with Omnipod 5, new study looks at type 2 remission and gastric bypass surgery, one type of medication seems to do a much better job preventing kidney stones in people with type 2, big new grant to look at exercise and type 1 and a look back at diabetes at the Super Bowl. Find out more about Please visit our Sponsors & Partners -...
info_outline Dexcom’s Jake Leach on a new CGM for type 2, updates on G6, G7 and more!Diabetes Connections | Type 1 Diabetes
This week, we get an update from Dexcom. Chief Operating Officer Jake Leach talks about their soon to be launched CGM for people with type 2. It's called Stelo and it's front of the FDA right now. We also answer a lot of your questions about G6, G7, interoperability, connectivity and what's next. Some information on Stelo: Find out more about Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! Learn more about from extreme temperatures Learn more about Drive The best way to keep up with Stacey and the show is by signing up for our weekly newsletter: Here's...
info_outlineWhat happens when two huge diabetes organizations decide to work together? We're all about to find out. Stacey talks to the CEOs of JDRF & Beyond Type 1 about their newly announced "alliance."
Buy Stacey's Book - "The World's Worst Diabetes Mom"
JDRF's Aaron Kowalski and Beyond Type 1's Thom Scher join Stacey for a talk about why these groups came together and what that means for the diabetes community.
Join the Diabetes Connections Facebook Group!
More info about the announcement here
Sign up for our newsletter here
-----
Use this link to get one free download and one free month of Audible, available to Diabetes Connections listeners!
-----
Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go!
Click here for iPhone Click here for Android
-----------
Partial transcript of the episode:
Stacey: Can you talk a little bit about the story behind [the alliance]?
Thom: I think that both JDRF and Beyond Type 1 are strong and important in this space. Aaron and I sat down and it was very clear that there were areas of overlap in the middle of the Venn diagram of sorts where we realized that working together, and this sounds a little cheesy, but where it really would be 1+1=3… And the minute we identified that list of things, it just became very clear that we were stronger together on a handful of these initiatives.
I also think, and this certainly isn’t something that our organizations were trying to do, but inevitably I think that we, people in the community sometimes feel like they had to pick, and that’s silly. We’re all in this together. We’re all fighting to improve the lives of people impacted by diabetes. I think JDRF and Beyond Type 1 saw that and saw that we were able to really work together and build something robust and official that allows both organizations to now go out and do these things together.
Is this a merger? You’ve talked about eliminating some redundancies – can you speak to that?
Aaron: We’re going to stay independent organizations, but it is reducing redundancies and building on what one another do well. From my perspective, when I took on the CEO role of JDRF, I talked to the board about a couple of key things. One is: what is JDRF really good at? I think we’re really good at funding research. We fund more research than anybody but the U.S. government. We’ve been successful at advocacy, and our mission has really been improving lives and curing Type 1 diabetes. Beyond Type 1 has been an incredible force in uniting our community… Beyond Type 1 has engaged with the adult community certainly better than we have.
What is the latest from JDRF in terms of pushing for insulin affordability?
Aaron: This is one of our top advocacy issues that we’re dealing with now. I’ve said this multiple times, I’ve testified on the Hill three times on this topic. No one should suffer or die for lack of insulin. And what we have in the United States is a shameful situation. JDRF is fully committed that nobody should have to choose between rent or a car payment or insulin. So we’ve been working on a number of fronts with the payer community, with Congress, looking at people who are under or uninsured, and looking at every remedy possible. I can tell you that working with Beyond Type 1, I think we’re going to be a be able to amplify this message. To me, it’s of course about amplifying the message, but it’s about driving towards solutions.
Thom: I’ll build off of that. I think we certainly are looking forward to working with JDRF to be more impactful in this arena of bringing more patient voices into the conversation, certainly at a federal level. I think our perspective at Beyond Type 1 on this is that we need to look for a pragmatic solution. And on top of those pragmatic solutions, we need to be ensuring that we are providing resources every day to people who are in need of insulin. And so some of those pragmatics take the form of actual policy matters be it first dollar coverage or Kevin’s Law. Some of the resource components have to do with ensuring that, for example, people who are uninsured know what assistance programs are available to them, they know how to get to them, they know that with them they will have coverage. There are robust programs in particular for that population. It’s that the barriers to entry are too high. So we’re really committed to building out our advocacy forum of Beyond Type 1 over the course of the next year.
This alliance was a big part of that because we now get to work with JDRF, a leading organization on that front, leveraging their expertise and bringing it into our community, and that’s a stepping stone for us to take more meaningful steps.
Did you know each other before you started talking about this?
Thom: I consider Aaron a friend, and a colleague, and I love working with him. I don’t think Aaron and I knew each other all that well when we each respectively took over as CEOs, though I certainly knew of Aaron and respected Aaron. I think Aaron and I over series of conversations in person and by phone have definitely gotten closer. I feel really lucky to call Aaron a friend now. I think that certainly informed some of the creation of the alliance. It was Aaron and I being able to really sit down and talk at a high level, everything on the table, how can we work together? That came from a place, at least on my end of [inaudible 00:11:59] Aaron’s vision and a belief that him and I were going to be able to work together and so would our teams. So no, we were not necessarily friends before this, but I certainly consider us friends today.
Aaron: Thom came down to the JDRF office in New York City and we sat down and talked, and really, it was quite clear that we were so aligned in where we were trying to take both of these organizations. So we hadn’t met before that and here we are. We took this selfie, and now today in October 2019 I think Thom is a great diabetes friend, and friend just the overall. I always love seeing, we love seeing one another. I mean it’s funny. Diabetes is one of those places I always call it the club that we want no more members of, but you find amazing people who are in this club unfortunately. Thom is just one of those amazing people whose leaned in, he’s just such a joy to work with, and we are going to do amazing things together. I’m just so fortunate that now that we have this bond.