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Keynote Speakers
Marc Atkin
Marc Atkin has been a Consultant in Diabetes, Endocrinology and Internal Medicine in Bath, UK since 2012 and Clinical Lead from 2017-24 . He led the establishment of the Bath Integrated Diabetes Service in 2013 which is the longest running in the SW of England. Marc was appointed as the National Specialty Advisor for Diabetes for NHSE England in July 2024. He has been Diabetes Lead of NHS England’s South West Cardiovascular Clinical Network since 2016. In this time he has overseen successful implementation of diabetes technology across the region, support of primary care diabetes services including GP diabetes champions and implementation of diabetic foot peer reviews across the SW and beyond.
Marc has also served on various committees across different elements of the NHS system; Association of British Clinical Diabetologists (ABCD) 2016-2019, NHS England’s Diabetes Expert Reference Group (2017-2018), Diabetes UK’s Diabetes Technology Reference Group (2018-2019), Diabetes UK’s Inpatient Care Programme (2018-2020). He has also been one of the leads on the Quality in Care Diabetes Judging Panel since 2016.
Marc is also diabetic foot lead for the Royal United Hospital, Bath and has taken part in a SW Peer Review team that has successfully reduced amputation rates across the South West. He has been part of Diabetes UK’s National Clinical System Leaders Programme and has served on DUK’s Health Professional Advisory Council since 2023.Marc’s interests include service development & system leadership, data- driven population health and integration of technology into clinical pathways. He is working on developing clinical pathways that maximise the opportunities offered by diabetes technology.He has also been the Associate Medical Director for Integration for Bath, Swindon & Wiltshire ICS/Acute Hospitals Alliance since 2022. Here he indulges his interests in population health, clinical strategy and operational research.
Rachel Besser
Rachel is a Consultant paediatric endocrinologist at Oxford Children’s Hospital and Honorary senior clinical lecturer at the Centre for Human Genetics, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, leading the T1Early research programme.
In the UK, Rachel leads the UK Islet Autoantibody registry (www.ukiab.org) for children and adults with one or more islet autoantibodies who do not yet need insulin. The T1Early Programme, focusses on gathering the evidence for screening and early detection in type 1 diabetes (T1D), undertaking work on feasibility, acceptability, cost-effectiveness, and clinical implementation. In Europe, she co-leads the follow up programme in EDENT1FI (www.edent1fi.eu/), a European-wide screening initiative.
Rachel holds a number of senior leadership positions including as Diabetes officer for the British Society for Paediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes (BSPED), Chair of the BSPED Pre-T1D Special Interest group, co-lead of the NHSE Task & Finish group on T1D screening, co-lead of the Oxford NIHR Biomedical Research Centre Metabolic Experimental Medicine theme, and sits on the Management board of the UK Type 1 diabetes Research Consortium. Rachel has led on a number of Pre-T1D consensus guidelines for ISPAD, BSPED and Breakthrough Type 1. She is funded by Diabetes UK, the National Institute of Health Research, and UKRI Horizon Europe. X @BesserBesser @T1Early
Olga Boiko
Olga is an academic medical sociologist with the expertise in process evaluations, implementation research and theories of health and illness. Olga was involved in a wide range of studies set at primary, secondary healthcare interface including doctor-patient interactions, PROM development and implementation, workforce retention, evaluation of research-academic collaborations and NICE guidelines, evaluation of integrated care systems, and quality improvement studies. In 2022-2024 she had an industrial appointment with a consulting company and delivered evidence-based solutions for pharmaceutical companies. Olga’s recent interests are coalesced around implementation science, in particular, the acceptability of different interventions (including novel medicines), monitoring tools, guidelines and screening programs. Olga is currently coordinating a Work package within the European research program which aimed at eliciting the impacts of the population screening for Type 1 Diabetes and is also involved in participatory research with disadvantaged communities.
Emanuele Bosi
Emanuele Bosi is a physician, clinician and researcher, currently Full Professor of Internal Medicine and Director of the School of Specialisation in Internal Medicine at Vita Salute San Raffaele University, Milan. Specialised first in Diabetology and later in Clinical Immunology, Emanuele Bosi is a diabetologist, endocrinologist and internist whose research activity has always focused on diabetes.
Trained at the Medical Clinic directed by Prof. Guido Pozza, he worked as a clinical researcher in Lyon on pancreas transplantation, under the direction of Professors Jules Traeger and Jean Michel Dubernard, and later in London on autoimmunity associated with diabetes and polyendocrinopathies, under the direction of Prof. Gian Franco Bottazzo.
After returning to San Raffaele in Milan, he became Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, then of Endocrinology and later Full Professor, first of Endocrinology and then of Internal Medicine. He is Head of General Medicine with a focus on diabetes and endocrine-metabolism, as well as founder and former director of the Diabetes Research Institute (DRI), a translational research institute comprising the clinical and diabetes research facilities at San Raffaele.
Emanuele Bosi's studies have covered several topics of diabetes, in particular aspects of autoimmunity associated with type 1 diabetes, with reference to disease mechanisms and the use of autoantibodies for the definition, prediction and prevention potential of type 1 diabetes. In this context, Emanuele Bosi created at San Raffaele the JDRF International Center, affiliated to TrialNet, operating from 2004 to 2019, later becoming INNODIA Center and finally FID-INNODIA. As of 2023, the group is a partner of EDENT1FI. TrialNet, INNODIA and EDENT1FI are international consortia for studying the natural history of type 1 diabetes, screening to identify individuals at risk and conducting interventions aimed at preventing the disease. He has also coordinated several clinical research groups over time, with expertise in conducting trials on the treatment of type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes and chronic diabetes complications and on the use of the most advanced technologies in the field of glucose sensors, insulin pumps and integrated systems.
Emanuele Bosi is the author of 225 peer-reviewed scientific publications.
Prof Colin Dayan
Prof Dayan has a long-established interest in translational research in the immunopathology of type 1 diabetes promoting progress to “insulin free T1D”. He has published first-in-man clinical studies on the development of peptide immunotherapy and the use of nanoparticles in T1D as well as pioneering the use of lymph node and injection site sampling to monitor the response to therapy. Since 2015 he has been a leading member of the UKT1D-Research Consortium which has hosted more than 15 clinical trials in early T1D over 30 sites. He is currently leading on novel trial designs including the T1D Plus platform trial in Europe and Australia to rapidly test combinations of therapies. In collaboration with the Critical Path Institute, he led the TOMI consortium of 21 clinical trials to define the relationship between C-peptide preservation and clinical endpoints and build an FDA/EMA approved clinical trial simulation tool. He is now seeking to define novel endpoints in preclinical T1D as part of the EDENT1FI European programme. Prof Dayan is a committed advocate to finding ways to bring beta cell preservation and delaying the need for insulin therapy into routine clinical practice. In this regard he supported the application for regulatory approval of Tzield to the FDA in 2021 and is working with colleagues to introduce immunotherapy and population screening into the UK.
Prof Kathleen Gillespie
Kathleen is Professor of Molecular Medicine at the University of Bristol where she has led the Type 1 Diabetes Research Group since 2014, when she also became Chief Investigator of the long running Bart's Oxford (BOX) family study of type 1 diabetes. She is interested in the mechanisms underlying autoimmunity and the Alistair Williams Antibody Facility in Bristol is an internationally recognised centre for measuring type 1 diabetes risk markers. Current projects include the first natural history study of risk of type 1 diabetes in general population adults (Type 1 diabetes risk in adults - T1DRA), developing new biomarker assays and understanding why children with Down syndrome are at increased risk of autoimmunity.
Prof Gavin Giovannoni
Gavin Giovannoni holds the Chair of Neurology, Blizard Institute, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University London and the Department of Neurology, Barts Health NHS Trust in November. Gavin did his undergraduate medical training at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. His clinical interests are multiple sclerosis and other inflammatory disorders of the central nervous system. He is particularly interested in clinical issues related to optimising MS disease-modifying therapies. His current research focuses on the Epstein-Barr virus as a possible cause of multiple sclerosis and MS prevention.
Dr Naresh Kanumilli
Dr Naresh Kanumilli has been a GP in south Manchester for the past 20 years and he has a specialist interest in diabetes and cardiology. He is a visiting professor-the Institute of Medicine at the University of Greater Manchester at Bolton, as-well as a Diabetes UK Clinical Champion. He is also a consultant in Diabetes at the Manchester University foundation Trust.
Dr Kanumilli has a very keen focus on management of chronic conditions in the community and hence has been actively involved in setting up and running community-based clinics both in cardiology and diabetes. He is actively involved with the current integration agenda to provide patients with seamless care between primary and secondary sectors. He is also keen to ensure that the patients are seen at the right time, in the right place and by the right person. Currently running one of the very few CVRM clinics which provide a holistic one stop service for people living with multiple long-term conditions. He is the Clinical Network Lead for Diabetes across Greater Manchester and East Cheshire and has developed the diabetes strategy for Greater Manchester which is seen as a forerunner for best practice in diabetes care.
He is also the co-author of the document promoting Diabetes care in the PCN structure and is the primary care research lead for Diabetes at the Greater Manchester CRN. Dr Kanumilli is also the Chair of the Primary Care Diabetes Society, which is the largest organisation of Diabetes Professionals in the UK, as-well as being actively involved in education and up skilling of HCP’s. He is also a director in the charity Vision Beyond Autism that looks after children and young adults with Autism.
Dr Anna Long
Dr Long completed an undergraduate master’s in biology at the University of Bath (2006). Her type 1 diabetes research career began as a research technician measuring islet autoantibodies. Anna received her PhD from the University of Bristol in 2012. After this she was awarded a Fulbright scholarship by Diabetes UK. This enabled her to spend two years in Seattle, USA, studying the immune system of people ‘at risk’ of diabetes. In 2018, she was awarded an RD Lawrence Fellowship, jointly funded by Diabetes UK and the JDRF. With this funding she investigated why some people develop type 1 diabetes as adults when others are diagnosed when they are children. Anna has been a member of the international Islet Autoautoantibody Standardisation Program (IASP) organising committee since 2022. She is currently a Lecturer at the University of Bristol, with ongoing research aimed at improving identification of type 1 diabetes across all ages and ethnic groups.
Dr Loredana Marcovecchio
Dr Fulya Mehta
Fulya is a Paediatrician working in Diabetes and General Paediatrics at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool. She is a National Speciality Advisor for Children and Young Adults (CYA) in the NHS England diabetes programme and prior to this was the clinical lead for the CYA workstream. Fulya has provided clinical leadership across key programme areas including tackling health inequalities with a focus on improving access to treatment technology, transition and young adult care and improving care and outcomes for young people living with type 2 diabetes. She has led on developing and delivering the CYA Diabetes ‘Getting It Right First Time’ programme and the CYA Diabetes Rightcare Toolkit, to support systems to improve diabetes care locally and reduce unwarranted variation.
Prof Richard Oram
Professor Richard Oram is a clinician scientist with a record in bringing original ideas and approaches to type 1 diabetes research. His contributions showing persistence of endogenous insulin in many with longstanding type 1 diabetes (T1D). Professor Oram developed a type 1 diabetes genetic risk score (T1D GRS) that has rapidly been integrated into clinical care for classification of diabetes, with field changing impacts on type 1 diabetes population screening. In parallel, his study of extremely early onset T1D in babies is revealing novel insights about genetic, immune and phenotypic factors associated with very early onset diabetes, with critical advances relating to the role of β-cell stress, and immune checkpoints in causality of autoimmunity.
Chris Potts
Chris is a participant from the T1DRA screening study with a double positive auto-antibody result. He will be sharing his experience of screening and the downstream impact of receiving a positive result. He can provide a viewpoint that is infused by holding a Biology and Philosophy Degree, and a career that included Plumbing, Vaccine Manufacturing at Oxford's Clinical BioManufacturing Facility, a Stimulation Engineer fracking wells in the North Sea and his current role as a self employed spreadsheet guru.
Dr Marian Rewers
Dr. Rewers is a pediatric endocrinologist who has dedicated his research to finding the cause and prevention of type 1 diabetes (T1D) and its complications. In 2000, he joined the Barbara Davis Center (BDC) as its clinical director and became its executive director in 2012. The Center now serves >8000 children and adults with T1D and is the premier research institute in basic, translational, and clinical research.
Dr. Rewers has led NIH-funded projects: the Diabetes Autoimmunity Study in the Young (DAISY), The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young (TEDDY), the Celiac Disease Autoimmunity Research (CEDAR), the Coronary Artery Calcification in Type 1 (CACTI) and Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Study (IRAS). These large prospective cohort studies have expanded our knowledge of the causes and risks of autoimmunity, T1D, and diabetic complications. To translate these results to public health and prevention, Dr. Rewers initiated the Autoimmunity Screening for Kids (ASK) supported by the Breakthrough T1D and Helmsley Charitable Trust. ASK has screened 40,000 general population children for presymptomatic T1D and celiac disease, monitored >1,000 children with autoimmunity to provide access to prevention and prevent complications.
Dr. Rewers’ recent program STOP T1D offers healthcare providers structured education in screening and monitoring to lower the barriers to screening for early T1D across the U.S. He has helped to train the next generation of physicians and scientists. Together, they have published more than 600 peer-reviewed articles in the area of diabetes.
Prof Emily Sims
Emily K. Sims MD, MS is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine. Dr. Sims is an NIH-funded physician scientist specializing in pediatric endocrinology with a research focus on identification of mechanisms and biomarkers of intrinsic beta cell dysfunction contributing to development of type 1 diabetes (T1D), clinical measurements of beta cell function that can be used to understand T1D heterogeneity and responses to disease-modifying therapies, and application of therapeutics aimed at improving beta cell health in T1D.
Dr Kimber Simmons, MD, MS
Dr. Kimber Simmons is a pediatric endocrinologist and Associate Professor at the Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes, University of Colorado. She directs the Center’s Early Type 1 Diabetes Clinic and Clinical Immunotherapy Program, where she leads real-world implementation of teplizumab and the care of individuals in the early stages of type 1 diabetes. Dr. Simmons also leads Ask the Experts (Asktheexperts.org), a national program supporting families and healthcare providers in interpreting and managing positive T1D screening results. As principal investigator for prevention and new-onset clinical trials, she is committed to advancing therapies that can delay, and ultimately prevent, the onset of type 1 diabetes.
Dr Nick Thomas
Dr Nick Thomas is a diabetes physician and academic clinical lecturer in Diabetes and Endocrinology at the University of Exeter. Type 1 diabetes is known to occur in adults but classically thought of as a disease of children and the majority of research is in this age group. Nicks research is looking to improve understanding of type 1 diabetes presenting in adults.
During his PhD he undertook research looking to better describe the pathophysiology and clinical features of type 1 diabetes presenting in adults and showed this is more similar than different from when the disease presents in children. As part of this he led a multicentre UK study DROPLeT looking to Define Rate Of Progression of Late onset Type 1 diabetes.
He is currently looking to understand how the disease first develops in adults and how we might identify adult cases before the onset of clinical symptoms. He is leveraging his experience from classifying adult diabetes at clinical diagnosis to guide management of adults with screen detected islet-autoantibodies.
Prof Tim Tree
Tim is an expert in human immunology, with a particular focus on understanding the role of T cells in health and disease.He studied Biochemistry at Imperial College London, where he also completed his PhD under the sponsorship of the World Health Organization, researching the immunobiology of river blindness. In 1995, he joined King’s College London to begin a research programme exploring how the immune system contributes to the development of type 1 diabetes.Tim's current work centres on investigating how the balance of different immune cell populations affects the onset and progression of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, and how immunotherapies can be used to slow their development.
Neil Wright
Neil Wright is a Consultant Paediatrican with a Sub-speciality interest in Endocrinology & Diabetes based at Sheffield Children’s Hospital. He has been involved numerous guidelines regarding the management of type 1 Diabetes including DKA guidelines and CGM protocols. He was a Principal Investigator for the PROTECT study investigating Teplizumab for stage 3 diabetes with some experience of delivering such therapies.