2018 JDRF Illinois TypeOneNation Summit

Kerri Sparling

‎Creator, Editor, Consultant, Author - ‎Six Until Me

Keynote Address

Kerri is a passionate advocate for all-things diabetes. She is the creator and author of Six Until Me, one of the first and most widely-read diabetes patient blogs, reaching a global audience of patients and caregivers. Her first book, Balancing Diabetes (Spry Publishing), looks at type 1 diabetes in the context of “real life.” Kerri has lived with diabetes for 30 years. She has experienced a full childhood, the teen years, the college experience, and now pregnancy and parenting, with diabetes along for the ride. Kerri aims to spread a message of hope versus fear through the power of social media, advocacy, and storytelling.

Dr. Claudia Boucher-Berry

Assistant Professor of Pediatric Endocrinology at the University of Illinois

Raising Girls/Women and Diabetes

Claudia Boucher-Berry, MD is an Assistant Professor of Pediatric Endocrinology. She is a member of the Pediatric Endocrine Society and the Endocrine Society. Dr. Boucher-Berry’s interest in endocrinology comes from experiencing multiple family members living with diabetes. Dr. Boucher-Berry has published articles and posters on multiple endocrine topics including diabetes, vitamin D Deficiency and obesity. Outside of medicine, she enjoys traveling and watching movies with her children.

Rosemary Briars, ND, PNP-BC, CDE

Co-Director of the Chicago Children’s Diabetes Center at La Rabida Children’s Hospital

Caregiver Training: Diabetes 101

Rosemary Briars, ND, PNP-BC, CDE is the Co-Director of the Chicago Children’s Diabetes Center (CCDC) at La Rabida Children’s Hospital. She earned her BSN from the University of Illinois in 1985 and her Doctoral work was completed in 1991 at Rush University. In her current role, she provides diabetes specialty care to children and adolescents with type 1 and type 2 diabetes within the context of a very talented multispecialty team. Under her leadership, the program has grown to serving over 800 children with diabetes in the Chicagoland area and Northwest Indiana. As a passionate program leader, she developed and implemented numerous educational outreach programs for clinical personnel, children and their care givers. She led the initiative to obtain national education program recognition by the American Diabetes Association (ADA). As adjunct faculty she has given numerous lectures and serves as clinical preceptor for dozens of graduate nursing students. In addition to educating students, she has given numerous professional presentations. Her publications include journal articles and book chapters on topics related to the nursing care of children with diabetes.

Dr. Ali Cinar

Director of Engineering - Center for Diabetes Research and Education at Illinois Institute for Technology

Research Update/Closing Session

Ali Cinar is Professor of Chemical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at Illinois Institute of Technology and the founding director of the Engineering Center for Diabetes Research and Education (2004). He has a Research Associate (Professor) appointment at the University of Chicago. His current research includes adaptive control techniques for multivariable artificial pancreas systems and agent-based techniques for modeling of diabetes, angiogenesis and tissue formation. He published two books, more than 220 technical papers in refereed journals and conference proceedings. His third book, Advances in Artificial Pancreas Systems, is scheduled for publication in March 2018. He received the Ph.D. degree in chemical engineering from Texas A&M University. Dr. Cinar is a Fellow of the AIChE, a senior member of the IEEE and a member of American Diabetes Association and Biomedical Engineering Society.

Lauren Daughters RD, LDN, CDE

Diabetes Response Specialist at Livongo

Nutrition and Fitness

Lauren completed her undergrad at The Ohio State University graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in French Studies, and a Bachelor of Science in Human Nutrition and Dietetics. She then went to work at Abbott Nutrition for 1 year before completing her Dietetic Internship at Loyola University of Chicago. Lauren worked at St. Joseph Hospital in Chicago as an inpatient and outpatient dietitian and taught community diabetes classes there before accepting a job at Livongo in December 2017 as part of their CDE team as a Diabetes Response Specialist. Lauren loves board games, playing sand volleyball on the Chicago lakefront, and cooking. She was diagnosed with T1D on July 27, 2007 and celebrates her "Diabetes Day" every year with her friends and family.

Meredyth Evans, PhD

Pediatric Psychologist at Lurie Children’s Hospital

Psychological Aspects of Life with T1D

Meredyth Evans earned her PhD in Clinical Psychology from DePaul University in 2015. She went on to complete a behavioral medicine-diabetes fellowship at Lurie Children’s Hospital in 2016 under the mentorship of Pediatric Psychologist, Dr. Jill Weissberg-Benchell. Dr. Evans is now employed as a Pediatric Psychologist at Lurie Children’s providing assessment and therapy services to children and adolescents. As part of this role she provides clinical care to children and adolescents with diabetes and she is also involved in research looking at the psychological and social aspects of living with and managing type 1 diabetes in youth and families.

Dr. Sarah Nadeem

Assistant Professor at Loyola University Medical Center, Stritch School of Medicine

Raising Girls/Women and Diabetes

Sarah Nadeem is an adult endocrinologist, an Assistant Professor at Loyola University Medical Center, Stritch School of Medicine, Maywood, IL and a Fellow of the American College of Endocrinology (FACE). She manages adult patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes along with other endocrine diseases in the clinic and in the hospital. Having received her Endocrinology training at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, she strives to follow that model to provide high quality, compassionate care to her patients. Helping patients manage their diabetes, empowering patients with education and tools for improved quality of life are most important to her. Dr. Nadeem sees patients at the Loyola University Medical Center's offices in Burr Ridge, Elmhurst and Maywood, IL.

Dr. Katie O’Sullivan

Assistant Professor of Adult & Pediatric Endocrinology at the University of Chicago

Teen Panel and Teen Activity

Dr. O'Sullivan is an Assistant Professor of Adult & Pediatric Endocrinology at the University of Chicago where she sees children and adults with type 1 diabetes and other endocrine disorders. She is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine. She completed dual residency training in pediatrics and internal medicine at the University of California San Diego and fellowship training in Adult & Pediatric Endocrinology at the University of Chicago. She truly believes she has the absolute best job in the world, and she greatly admires her patients living with T1DM and their families!

Shelby Raney MPH, RN, PEL-NCSN,

Certified School Nurse at LaGrange School District #105

School and T1D

Amanda Reed, APRN, CPNP, CDE

Advanced Practice Nurse Educator at the Chicago Children’s Diabetes Center at La Rabida Children’s Hospital

Caregiver Training: Diabetes 101

Amanda Reed APRN, CPNP, CDE is an advanced practice nurse educator at the Chicago Children’s Diabetes Center (CCDC) at La Rabida Children’s Hospital. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Community Health at the University of Illinois in 2009 and earned her master’s degree in nursing at the University of Illinois in 2014. During her APRN program, she completed a clinical rotation with Dr. Briars at the CCDC and developed a passion for caring for pediatric patients with diabetes. In her current role, she provides education and support to CCDC’s many patients and their families affected by Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes. She has grown CCDC’s continuous glucose monitoring program and organizes CCDC’s yearly educational program for school nurses caring for students with diabetes.

Dr. Vidhya Viswanathan

Advocate Hope Children's Hospital

Choice/Coverage/Courage Panel

Vidhya Viswanathan, MD is a pediatric endocrinologist at Advocate Children’s Hospital-Oak Lawn, part of Advocate Health Care. Advocate is a nationally recognized health system devoted to providing quality patient care. The Oak Lawn facility delivers care to over 600 patients with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

Dr. Viswanathan has been rated as a Vitals.com top 10 doctor. She is an active leader in advocating for proper diabetes management within school systems in the southern suburbs of Chicago. She also provides continuing medical education to pediatricians, family practitioners and physicians in training regarding inpatient and outpatient diabetes management.

Dr. Viswanathan completed a pediatric endocrinology fellowship and pediatric residency at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, IN, Indiana University School of Medicine. She also has a Master’s degree in clinical research from Indiana University.

Dr. Viswanathan is an avid Chicago sports fan and you can often find her at one of our local team’s sporting events.