Millennial Advances in Diabetes

An e-Symposium

As the millennium began, a group of the leading clinical investigators in diabetes and related areas came together with the goal of improving the investigative climate for clinical research in diabetes in an organization known as the Association of Diabetes Investigators. Some of us are located in major universities. Others are in full time private practice. Our patient population reflects the widely different geographic locations of our sites. Some of us practice in rural areas, others in major cities. Some of us have large African American populations. Others have a majority representation of Hispanic patients. Yet, despite these apparent differences, we are quite similar in our outlooks and approach. We have the unifying force of many years of joint participation in the protocols which brought many of the current new diabetes, lipid, and antihypertensive agents to general use. Our alliance is a realistic consequence of the many meetings we have attended jointly. We have had many wonderful discussions at meetings. It occurred to us that the new medium of the Internet could permit us to share our thoughts on a more frequent basis than allowed by airline get togethers. We decided to use electronic communication to develop a Symposium on the major advances which have improved the care of diabetic individuals over the past decade and the great hopes we have for further strides in this new millennium.

We have assembled a wonderful group. Dr. David Bell and Dr. Paresh Dandona have collaborated on the cardiovascular effects of diabetes and the role of antioxidants. Dr. Dan Einhorn and Dr. Marc Rendell have analyzed the changes in insulin and other pharmaceutical therapies for diabetes while Dr. Arthur Vinik explains the new world of transplantation and islet cell regeneration approaches. Dr. Lois Jovanovic and Dr. Robert Harrison have reviewed the special issues of diabetes in minority populations and in women. Dr. Bruce Chertow and Dr. Rendell discuss nutritional therapy and supplementation in diabetes and the role of antioxidants. Dr. John Gerich and Dr. George Dailey consider insulin resistance as a factor in diabetes. Dr. Aaron Vinik and Dr. Leann Olansky offer their ideas on microvascular disease and neuropathy. Dr. Peter Bressler and Dr. Neal Friedman provide a lively counterpoint of Managed Care versus the physician caring for diabetic patients.

Although each of these individuals is an expert in their own area, this Symposium is clearly a group effort. It has been an outstanding experience to see how the interchange among these brilliant people has led to