Gary Scheiner, MS, CDE

Owner & Clinical Director Integrated Diabetes Services

Gary Scheiner is owner and Clinical Director of Integrated Diabetes Services, a practice located just outside of Philadelphia specializing in intensive insulin therapy and advanced education for children and adults.

Gary has been a Certified Diabetes Educator for 22 years and has had type 1 diabetes (T1D) for 33 years.  Gary was named 2014 Diabetes Educator of the Year by the American Association of Diabetes Educators.  He has written six books, including the best-selling “Think Like A Pancreas-A Practical Guide to Managing Diabetes With Insulin”. He lectures nationally and internationally for people with diabetes as well as professionals in the healthcare industry.  In addition to serving on the faculty of Children With Diabetes and the Board of Directors for JDRF, Gary volunteers for the American Diabetes Association, Diabetes Sisters, and Setebaid Diabetes Camps.

Gary has been happily married for 27 years and has four wonderful kids.  A fitness fanatic, he enjoys playing basketball, running, cycling and cheering on his Philadelphia sports teams.

Jane Buckner, MD

President & Director, Translational Research

Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason

Dr. Jane Buckner is President of Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason (BRI) as well as Director of its Translational Research Program. She is a rheumatologist at Virginia Mason as well as an Affiliate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Rheumatology and the Department of Immunology at the University of Washington. Dr. Buckner’s research interests are in understanding how the immune system is regulated, and why in autoimmune diseases regulation of the immune system fails, resulting in damage of healthy tissues. Her interdisciplinary research combines genetics, immunology and clinical medicine to advance our understanding of the causes of immune system diseases including type 1 diabetes (T1D).

Sean Busby

Founder and Executive Director, Riding On Insulin

Sean Busby is a professional backcountry snowboarder with type 1 diabetes and lupus living off the grid in the wilds of Alaska. Sean is the first person with type 1 diabetes to snowboard on all seven continents, including some of the most remote and isolated mountain ranges on the planet.

Sean has been featured internationally in major print and tv shows such as HGTV, DIY, Disney, ESPN, Daily Mail, Yahoo, and Discovery Channel for his snowboarding expeditions and with his wife, Mollie, for their sustainable off grid building and living methods (www.thebusbyhive.com).

Sean is also the founder and executive director of an international nonprofit, Riding On Insulin (ridingoninsulin.org), which hosts action sports camps for kids and teens living with type 1 diabetes. As a long term Omnipod^® Insulin Management System user, Sean truly lives an active, untethered life of adventure.

Shawn Foster

Quality Assurance Engineer

Tidepool

Shawn Foster is a Quality Assurance Engineer for Tidepool. There, she focuses on testing Tidepool Loop and improving the accessibility of all Tidepool products for people with varying abilities. Before joining Tidepool, she worked in assistive technology and disability resources at a regional university and helped several T1D students and families with the transition to college. Diagnosed as an adult with Type 1 25 years ago, Shawn has been using DIY Loop and been a part of the #WeAreNotWaiting community since 2017.

Irl B. Hirsch, M.D.

University of Washington

Irl Hirsch, M.D., is a board certified physician at the Endocrine and Diabetes Care Center at UWMC-Roosevelt, the UW’s Diabetes Treatment and Teaching Chair and a UW professor of Metabolism, Endocrinology and Nutrition.

Dr. Hirsch’s career has focused on studying the best strategies for the use of insulin therapy and innovations in technology for diabetes management.

Dr. Hirsch earned his M.D. at the University of Missouri. He is the former chair of the Professional Practice Committee for the American Diabetes Association, and a member of the American Board of Internal Medicine. He has authored over 170 papers, numerous book chapters and six books both for patients and physicians and is section editor for UptoDate. He received the American Diabetes Association’s Josiah K. Lilly Sr. Distinguished Service Award and was elected to a Mastership by the American College of Physicians.

Rob Howe

Founder, Diabetics Doing Things Podcast

Rob Howe is an Entrepreneur, Marketing Strategist, Podcaster and former professional basketball player. In 2015, Rob founded Diabetics Doing Things, in an effort to raise awareness around the amazing things that people with Type-1 Diabetes are doing around the world. In 2017, Rob co-founded Recreation Dallas, a full-service advertising agency, servicing global and local brands in the restaurant, retail and sports/tourism industries.

As of 2019, Rob’s podcast has been downloaded over 1 million times, from listeners in over 50 countries. He hopes for a day where children, teens and adults who are diagnosed with Type-1 Diabetes need only go online and search for people who do the thing they love, and feel confident that the dreams for their life are still valid. Rob lives in Dallas Texas with his girlfriend Erica and their cat and dogs, Michael J. Fox, Rowan & Enzo.

Learn more at: diabeticsdoingthings.com

Timothy J. Kieffer, Ph.D

Professor, Department of Cellular & Physiological Sciences

University of British Columbia

Training:
PhD Physiology, University of British Columbia
Post-Doctoral Fellow, Molecular Endocrinology, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School

Research Sabbatical, Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA), Kyoto University

Past Positions:
Instructor, Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Assistant, Biochemistry, Massachusetts General Hospital
Assistant Professor, Medicine and Physiology, University of Alberta
Associate Professor, Medicine and Physiology, University of Alberta

Current Position:
Professor, Department of Cellular & Physiological Sciences

Department of Surgery

School of Biomedical Engineering

Diabetes Research Group Leader, Life Sciences Institute

University of British Columbia 

Dr. Kieffer’s laboratory is focused on the development of novel gene and cell therapy approaches to treat diabetes.  He has co-authored >175 peer reviewed publications on these topics in addition to several book chapters and patents and given >100 invited presentations.  He has mentored >40 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in addition to numerous undergraduates and is an active teacher.  He has received scholarships from the Canadian Diabetes Association (CDA), the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research, the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, and JDRF and his research has been supported by these agencies, in addition to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Canadian Foundation for Innovation and the Stem Cell Network.  Dr. Kieffer has also been a reviewer and member of grants review committees for these agencies, including serving as Scientific Officer and Chair on CIHR and CDA committees.  In 2010 he received the CDA Young Scientist Award and in 2018 was elected as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.  In 2016/17 he spent 1 year on sabbatical at The Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA), Kyoto University.

Lab Website: kiefferlab.com

Cassady Kintner, MS, LMFT

Marriage and Family Therapist and Medical Family Therapist

Cassady is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Medical Family Therapist who specializes in working with people living with chronic illness, particularly type one diabetes (which she's had herself for over 23 years). Cassady has a private practice where she works with teens, adults, couples and families struggling with depression, anxiety, diabetes distress and burnout as well as issues with body image and disordered eating around diabetes. Cassady facilitates workshops for parents of kids and teens with T1D navigating independence and the transition of care management responsibilities. She runs the T1D support group at the University of Washington Diabetes Care Center and has presented internationally for organizations including the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the American Diabetes Association. She is also the Board President of ConnecT1D, a nonprofit that works to build community and address the psychosocial needs of people living with T1D..

Jackie Le Grand

Manager, Health Policy

JDRF Advocacy

Jackie Le Grand is the Manager, Health Policy for JDRF. Diagnosed with T1D in 2007 while in her twenties, she has spent the years since working to improve insurance coverage for people with chronic conditions. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, hiking and travel. She joined JDRF in March 2017.

Michelle So, MD, PhD

Benaroya Research Institute

Dr. Michelle So is a senior postdoctoral fellow with the Diabetes Clinical Research Program at Benaroya Research Institute. She is an endocrinologist from Melbourne, Australia who completed a PhD at St Vincent’s Institute, Melbourne in 2018 with the primary research aim to identify targets of the immune system in type 1 diabetes. Her ongoing research interest is to develop ways to track the changes to the immune system and use these as tools to better understand type 1 diabetes and measure the effects of immunotherapy. Dr. So has also worked as a Clinical Skills Coach for medical students at The University of Melbourne, a facilitator for the Australian Diabetes Society (ADS) John Turtle Clinical Skills course, and research project officer for the ADS Insulin Pump course.

Eric Tozer

President & co-founder of Diabetes Sports Project and T1D Athlete Ambassador

Eric Tozer is a diabetes ambassador who empowers the community through sports and utilizes his athletic accomplishments as a platform to inspire and educate the diabetes community.

ERIC MADE HISTORY, BECOMING THE FIRST PERSON WITH TYPE 1 DIABETES (T1D) TO COMPLETE THE WORLD MARATHON CHALLENGE, RUNNING 7 MARATHONS ON 7 CONTINENTS IN 7 CONSECUTIVE DAYS.

Eric was diagnosed with T1D in 2006 at the age of 22. He had the classic symptoms of type 1 diabetes; including constant thirst, increased appetite, frequent urination, blurred vision, lethargy and weight loss. Eric had always lived a very active and healthy lifestyle, so the sudden 20-pound weight loss was worrisome that something was seriously wrong. Upon returning home, a visit to his doctor revealed the devastating and life-changing news of his diagnosis. Eric’s life, and that of his entire family, was quickly turned upside down: checking his blood sugar levels up to 10 times a day, calculating carbohydrate intake and injecting varying units of insulin multiple times throughout the day and with every meal.

But Eric wasn’t going to let diabetes define his life or control his future. Soon after his diagnosis, he completed his first half Ironman and hasn’t stopped since. He co-founded non-profit organization, Diabetes Sports Project, comprised of 100+ T1D athletes around the globe, demonstrating how through proper diet, exercise, a positive outlook and effective blood glucose management, dreams can be achieved.

Eric and his wife Jen, live in San Diego, CA, with their two young daughters. In addition to his philanthropic efforts in the diabetes community, he has spent his entire professional career at nThrive where he is a Director of Sales, helping hospitals succeed by providing all the technology, advisory expertise, analytics and education solutions providers need to thrive and serve their communities.