2019 and older Breakthrough T1D Fellowship Awardees

Emily Sims

Breakthrough 2019 Awardee

Emily K. Sims, MD, MS, is a physician-scientist specializing in pediatric endocrinology. Her long-term goal is to address clinically relevant problems in diabetes through molecular discovery. Her research focus revolves around the investigation of molecular mechanisms contributing to β cell dysfunction and the development of diabetes, as well as the identification and verification of circulating biomarkers of β cell dysfunction.

Specific areas that Dr. Sims is studying include:

1. The role of cytokine-induced microRNAs in beta cell death and dysfunction
2. The role of beta cell extracellular vesicles and their molecular cargo in the pathology of developing diabetes, as well as their potential as noninvasive biomarkers of beta cell health
3. The role and biomarker potential of dysfunctional proinsulin processing in different stages of type 1 diabetes
4. Contributions of intrinsic beta cell dysfunction to type 1 diabetes development

She hopes to ultimately utilize the knowledge gained to develop biomarkers and β cell-targeted therapeutics that allow for a more tailored approach to treating patients with or at risk for diabetes.

 

Kalie Tommerdahl

Breakthrough 2019 Awardee

Kalie L. Tommerdahl, MD, is a fellow in Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes at Children’s Hospital Colorado and the Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes in Aurora, Colorado, USA.  She received her medical education at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and completed her residency training in Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, USA.  During the fellowship, Dr. Tommerdahl was invited to be an investigator for the Effects of MEtformin on CardiovasculaR Function in AdoLescents with Type 1 Diabetes (EMERALD) clinical trial where she evaluated the cardiovascular and metabolic impact of obesity on youth with type 1 diabetes as compared to youth with type 2 diabetes as well as the renal, inflammatory, and mitochondrial effects of metformin on youth with type 1 diabetes. 

Dr. Tommerdahl is the principal investigator of a study entitled “MEtabolic and Renal Effects of AutoMAted Insulin Delivery Systems in Youth with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (MERMAID-T1D)”, which received the ISPAD-JDRF fellowship.  This project aims to assess insulin sensitivity, body composition, markers of cardiometabolic function, and markers of kidney function before and following initiation of two automated insulin delivery systems: the hybrid closed loop artificial pancreas and the predictive low glucose suspend system.

Dr. Tommerdahl hypothesizes that pauses in insulin delivery secondary to using automated insulin delivery systems will result in the improvement of insulin sensitivity, cardiometabolic function, and renal function in youth with type 1 diabetes.  She aims to develop strategies to advance and optimize the use of technology in the management of all forms of diabetes to improve the cardiometabolic and renal risk factors of diabetes, the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in this disease.       

 

Paul Enlow

Breakthrough 2019 Awardee

Paul Enlow, Ph. D., is an Assistant Research Scientist in the Center for Healthcare Delivery Science (CHDS) and a Pediatric Psychologist in the Division of Behavioral Health at Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children (N/AIDHC) in Wilmington, Delaware (USA). He earned his Ph.D. in Psychology at West Virginia University under the mentorship of Christina Duncan, Ph. D. Dr. Enlow completed his Psychology Residency in the Division of Behavioral Health at N/AIDHC, which included a rotation with an interdisciplinary type 1 diabetes (T1D) care team.

After his residency, Dr. Enlow pursued a post-doctoral fellowship in the CHDS under the mentorship of Dr. Tim Wysocki and Dr. Melissa Alderfer, who focused on pediatric T1D research. As a fellow, he contributed to two NIDDK-funded randomized control trials to improve health and psychosocial outcomes in youth with T1D. The first study, led by Drs. Wysocki and Alderfer aimed to develop and test a transdisciplinary model of care for adolescents with T1D. The second study, led by Dr. Wysocki and Dr. Jessica Pierce, tested how access to an online intervention for parents of very young children with T1D affected parent and child psychosocial outcomes and child health outcomes.

Currently, Dr. Enlow conducts research with youth with T1D and is interested in improving the access to and optimal use of diabetes technologies (e.g., Smart Pumps, Continuous Glucose Monitoring [CGM]). As a fellow, he received a Nemours Biomedical Research Fellows Award to test the feasibility of using ecological momentary assessment to understand barriers to CGM use. Dr. Enlow also received a Mentored Research Development Award from the Delaware Clinical and Translational Research Center. This award provides dedicated time to work with a team of mentors to write a grant proposal focused on improving CGM use in youth with T1D.

With the generous support of the JDRF-ISPAD Research Fellowship, Dr. Enlow will use qualitative interviews to understand patient, caregiver, and provider perceptions of the mechanisms underlying racial/ethnic disparities in using diabetes technologies. Dr. Enlow will conduct this work in the Nemours CHDS under the mentorship of Dr. Alderfer and with a multidisciplinary team, including experts in pediatric endocrinology (Anthony Gannon, M.D.), behavioral T1D research (Susana Patton, Ph.D.), health disparities research (Kirk Dabney, M.D.) and research with electronic health records (Tim Bunnell, Ph.D.).

 

Rowen Seckfold

Breakthrough 2019 Awardee

Rowen Seckold, MBBS FRACP, completed her medical degree at the University of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia) in 2007. After completing general pediatrics training, she is pursuing her specialist qualification in pediatric endocrinology and diabetes at the John Hunter Children’s Hospital in Newcastle, Australia. She works clinically as a member of a dynamic multidisciplinary team that has recently received health awards for excellence in health research and innovation for its care of children and adolescents living with diabetes with the project “Achieving Targets: Children with Type 1 Diabetes”.

Rowen has developed a strong research interest and is currently completing a PhD focusing on clinical management challenges in pediatric T1D at the University of Newcastle (Australia) under the supervision of Professor Bruce King and Dr. Carmel Smart. She has presented her research about very young children with type 1 diabetes at national and international conferences and has been the first author of two publications. Rowen received the research encouragement award from Hunter Children’s Research Foundation in 2019, in which the community recognizes a new researcher for their contribution to clinical research in pediatrics.

This fellowship will further Rowen’s current research and focus on young children and physical activity. This project, addressing a relatively understudied but important area, was presented at the 2019 ISPAD Science School for Physicians in Rotterdam, Netherlands. It will contribute to the development of education packages designed to prevent diabetes complications and improve the daily lives of people who live with diabetes for the majority of their lives.

Caroline Passone

Breakthrough 2018 Awardee

Caroline Passone, MD, was born in Sao Paulo (Brazil) on 13 September 1985. She started her fellowship in Pediatrics in 2009 and the Pediatric Endocrinology fellowship in 2011 at the University of Sao Paulo. In 2012, she joined a Master's Program. The focus of her research throughout the program was the validation of a tool for diabetes self-management evaluation in the Portuguese language. That year, this project allowed her to participate in the ISPAD Research School for Physicians in Poland.

In 2013, her passion for type 1 diabetes led her to the Diabetes Center of Excellence at the University of Florida, managed by Dr. Desmond Schatz and Dr. Michael Haller. During this time, she had the chance to learn from different clinical trials for type 1 diabetes prevention and management (TEDDY, Trialnet, and T1D Exchange). When Dr. Passone returned to Brazil, she developed an important educational program with insulin pumps for type 1 Diabetes at the University of Sao Paulo. Nowadays, she holds an assistant position in the pediatric endocrinology group, where she manages 14 fellows in all pediatric endocrinology clinics, assisting more than 600 patients monthly.

Interestingly, another passion that emerged in her career after her fellowship in Florida was caring for Prader-Willi Syndrome. Since then, she has created a reference center in Brazil to treat the disease.

From now on, after the generous support of the JDRF-ISPAD Research Fellowship, her next challenge will be in Paris. Dr Passone will pursue a research fellowship Program under the supervision of Dr. Michel Polak and Jacques Beltrand (Necker Enfants Malades), working on an innovative approach to type 1 diabetes prevention involving gut mucosa changes and MAIT lymphocytes.

 

 

Edson Rwagasore

Breakthrough 2018 Awardee

Dr. Rwagasore Edson MD, MSc Epi (born 28 July 1985) is a Diabetes senior specialist at Rwanda Biomedical Center, the implementing entity of the Ministry of Health. Since 2012, his work has focused on designing and implementing interventions that ensure improved access to quality, affordable, and sustainable services for the prevention and treatment of Diabetes in Rwanda. His growing interest in using data to improve the quality of care and efficient use of resources led him to build his competencies in epidemiology and biostatistics. Since 2015, he has been playing a key role in Improving access to diabetes care by establishing nurse-led NCD clinics at the primary healthcare level. He is currently dedicated to coordinating the countrywide diabetes screening in the Car Free Day model envisaged to improve the early detection of diabetes in Rwanda.

Dr. Rwagasore is the principal investigator of the ongoing research project "Establishing Diabetes to Improve Quality Care for Type 1 Diabetes in Developing Countries," which received the JDRF-ISPAD research fellowship award for physicians during the ISPAD science school. He is also a co-investigator of an ongoing research project on Type 1 Diabetes and action research on the Prevention of Diabetes in Rwanda.

 

Klemen Dovc

Breakthrough 2018 Awardee

Assoc. Prof. Klemen Dovc, MD, PhD is a fellow in pediatric endocrinology at the UMC - University Children’s Hospital Ljubljana, Slovenia. He received his medical training at the University of Ljubljana Faculty of Medicine, Slovenia, where he graduated in 2010 and was certified as a pediatrician in 2016. Under the mentorship of Prof. Tadej Battelino, he finished his PhD program with a thesis on “Regulation of Glucose Concentration Using Artificial Pancreas During and after Physical Activity” in 2017. From March to August 2018, he held the position of a visiting Postdoctoral Clinical Research Fellow in Prof Hovorka’s Artificial Pancreas Group at the University of Cambridge, UK.

Dr Dovc’s clinical and scientific activities focus on diabetes management with state-of-the-art technology, particularly artificial pancreas glucose control. As a member of the DREAM consortium (The Diabetes wiREless Artificial pancreas consortiuM) he was involved in several in-patient and outpatient clinical trials with hybrid and also fully closed-loop insulin delivery. The results of these studies were published in high-impact journals (e.g., New England Journal of Medicine, Diabetologia, Diabetes Care) and support the incorporation of this technology in unsupervised clinical practice in all age groups. He received the JDRF-ISPAD Fellowship 2018 award for a research project, “Association of glycemic variability and DNA methylation patterns with early signs of retinal and kidney damage in individuals with type 1 diabetes,” in collaboration with another Center of Excellence, Kinder- und Jugendkrankenhaus Auf der Bult, Hannover, Germany, led by prof Thomas Danne.

Dr. Dovc is an active member of the national and international pediatric scientific communities and one of the founders of the ISPAD Young Researchers Community – the JENIOUS group
and he co-authored the sections of the ISPAD Clinical Practice Consensus Guidelines related to diabetes management in school.

 

Salwa Baki

Breakthrough 2018 Awardee

Salwa Baki is a Moroccan Endocrinologist practicing at Mokhtar Soussi Provincial Hospital, Taroudannt, Morocco. In 2016, she graduated from the Medical University of Marrakesh, Endocrine and Diabetes Department. She also has a diploma in the management of pituitary diseases from Paris Sud University and a diploma in fundamental and clinical Hormonology from Paris Descartes University.  To advance her skills and understanding of research methodology, she participated in many scientific courses, e.g., Robert Turner's EASD Post-graduate Course, EASD Advanced Postgraduate Course in Clinical Diabetes, ISPAD Science School for Physicians, and many others.

She has been an ophthalmologist resident for three years before changing her residency program.  During medical studies, her research work's results were presented at numerous domestic and international conferences (and received numerous conference awards in Groningen). Her main area of research is ophthalmic complications of diabetes, and she published a Moroccan prediction model for diabetic retinopathy. She also works on implementing inborn error metabolism diagnosis and management in collaboration with the Biochemistry Laboratory of Marrakesh Faculty of Medicine. Her current research work focused on ophthalmic complications of type 1 diabetic patients.

She is a member and founder of several medical and social associations and vice president of the Moroccan Association of Inborn Errors of Metabolism.