Bart Roep, Ph.D.,

Director of Diabetes Immunology, City of Hope

Dr. Bart O. Roep is Chair and Professor of Department of Diabetes Immunology, and holds the Chan Soon-Shiong Shapiro Distinguished Chair in Diabetes at the Diabetes & Metabolism Research Institute at the Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope in Los Angeles. He is also Professor of Medicine, Professor of Diabetology, Immunopathology & Intervention and Director of the National Diabetes Center of Excellence at the Leiden University Medical Center in The Netherlands and Visiting Professor of the Danish Diabetes Academy. After studying medical sciences and medicine at the University of Amsterdam, he obtained his PhD in medicine at the Leiden University Medical Center. He discovered the role of T cells in diabetes and focused on defining human cellular immune responses, autoantigen identification, and islet transplantation and the design, execution and immunological monitoring of immune intervention strategies in clinical type 1 diabetes and beta-cell replacement therapies, including pioneering trials on tissue-specific tolerance induction, gene and stem cell therapy. He is founder and director of the national platform for clinical immune intervention therapy in The Netherlands and published more than 350 original articles on his discoveries. He received many prestigious awards, including the Minkowski Prize, the VICI award and a Fellowship of the Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Annie Shultz

Project Manager, Outreach & Recruitment TrialNet Hub, The Benaroya Research Institute

Annie was born and raised in the beautiful Columbia River Gorge in White Salmon, WA.  She graduated from Oregon State University in 2004 with a Degree in Exercise Science--Sports Medicine, but chose a sports business route.  That took her to Tacoma, WA where she was the Senior Director of Marketing for the Tacoma Rainiers, Triple-A Affiliate of the Seattle Mariners.  While working for the Rainiers, Annie connected with the local JDRF Branch and volunteered on the South Sound Board of Directors.  While volunteering she was hired by JDRF as a Regional Marketing Manger.  She remained with JDRF for three years before taking a new and exciting role in the T1D research world with Diabetes TrialNet.  TrialNet is  a worldwide network of researchers and institutions focused on preventing type 1 diabetes.  Annie is the Project Manager for Outreach & Recruitment for the Diabetes TrialNet network.

Annie came to the T1D research worlds as a person who is directly impacted by T1D.  Her father was diagnosed in 1964 at age 19, Annie herself was diagnosed at age 21.   She and her family members have participated in numerous clinical research trials of type 1 diabetes.  Specifically, Annie has participated in trials for the artificial pancreas at the Benaroya Research Institute.  She is also a member of the JDRF Speakers Bureau, a past Board Member for ConnecT1D an organization that puts on a type 1 diabetes family camp and a volunteer for JDRF Seattle.  She was recently awarded the Auto-immune Alliance-A3 Focus Award for her spirit, dedication and community involvement while living with an autoimmune disease.  She admits that while her story can be difficult to share, it demonstrates very clearly the tremendous advancements that are a direct result of JDRF funded research.

David Kerr, MD

Director or Research and Innovation, Sansum Diabetes Research Institute

David Kerr is a UK trained physician and endocrinologist and has spent many years trying to help people “tame the beast” that is diabetes. This is his third time living in the US having been a researcher at Yale in the 1990’s and then an Editor of the Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology in 2010 while he lived in the San Francisco Bay area.

David went to school and University in Scotland and subsequently spent most of his professional life being a full-time clinician and the rest of the time educating the English on best practices for the effective management of diabetes. David is Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, Visiting Professor at Bournemouth University and for many years has held a Gold Clinical Excellence Award from the National Health Service in the UK.

David joined the Sansum Diabetes Research Center in Santa Barbara in April 2014 to help develop the idea of “breaking the code” – taking what is already available and what is being developed and modifying and creating technology to benefit the maximum number of people with diabetes for the longest period of time and with the minimum disruption to their lives.

Outside of work, he still manages to play squash and attempts to maintain a fairly respectable golf handicap.
Follow Dr. Kerr's research, accomplishments and columns online:
http://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/category/columnists/david-kerr/
www.DiabetesTravel.org
www.Excarbs.com

Mark Harmel, MPH, CDE

Clinical Research Coordinator, USC Westside Center for Diabetes

Mark Harmel, MPH, CDE is the clinical research coordinator and diabetes educator at the USC Westside Center for Diabetes. As part of the T1D Exchange network, he manages the Clinical Registry and has been the coordinator for the Replace BG trial that proved that a Dexcom is safe and effective for making insulin dosing decisions, and is currently using the Dexcom G6 to update the data on people without diabetes. The next study is looking at T1D in people 60 and over. He also managed and inhaled insulin trial and the center is part of the TrialNet network.

Also, is a contributor to Medscape, Mark is the videographer for the Peters on Diabetes series and is a member of the major diabetes meeting reporting teams. He is an active advocate who has visited representatives in the US Capitol and his congressional district promoting insurance coverage, diabetes research funding and raising insulin prices.

Ellen Goodstein

Executive Director, Sansum Diabetes Research Institute

Ellen Goodstein is the executive director of William Sansum Diabetes Center in Santa Barbara. Ellen leads the center with a wealth of experience in nonprofit management and fundraising. She has been an active community leader and served as the executive director of the Legal Aid Foundation of Santa Barbara County. She holds a master’s degree in education and is a licensed attorney in both California and Florida. Ellen became involved with the center in 2006, motivated by a passion to address the growing impact of diabetes at local and global
levels. More than 17 years ago, Ellen’s oldest son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, an experience that has made her intimately aware of the day-to-day challenges of the disease and a steadfast champion for those whom it affects. She has volunteered her time on the William Sansum Diabetes Center’s Board of Trustees for nine years, two years of which she served as Board President.

Judy Ranan

Executive Director, JDRF LA

Judy Ranan joined JDRF after five years with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation where she led the effort raising millions of dollars through individual giving, major gifts and numerous events, including a Block Party on Wisteria Lane on the Universal backlot with the talent of the ABC show, Desperate Housewives. Prior to her position as ED at CFF, Judy was the senior marketing director for the Toronto Film Office in Los Angeles. The bulk of her career was involved in developing and producing television movies and miniseries for network and cable.

Brandon Arbiter

VP, Product and Business Development, Tidepool

Nancy Heffron, MA, MFT

Licensed Family and Marriage Therapist

Nancy Heffron is a licensed marriage and family therapist who has lived with type 1 diabetes for the past 43 years (since the age of 12). The complex emotional complications for those who have this disease led Nancy to pursue a career in psychology. Her private practice includes working with diabetic individuals and families on issues such as taking “control”, independence/dependence, depression, blame/shame/guilt, and relational concerns. When she isn’t meeting with her clients, Nancy is making paper collages, walking her dogs, or spending time with her two children.

Kara Hornbuckle, M.S., P.P.S

Donor Engagement & Stewardship Manager, Sansum Diabetes Research Institute

Kara has lived with type 1 diabetes (T1D) for over 29 years. However, her interest in supporting others impacted by T1D began in 2012 after her son Lucas was also diagnosed with T1D. After Lucas’s diagnosis Kara ended her eight-year career in education as a school counselor. Lucas’s diagnosis inspired Kara to continue her skills in counseling as she launched a support group in 2013 for the T1D community in Santa Barbara. In 2015, Kara became an Outreach Consultant for JDRF. In 2016, Kara became JDRF’s Central Coast Development Manager where she had the opportunity to manage the One Walk program and also develop inaugural fundraising events throughout the central coast. Kara joined the Sansum Diabetes Research Institute team in July of 2017 as a Donor Engagement and Stewardship Manager.

Kara earned her bachelor's degree from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and her Master's Degree in Guidance and Counseling from Cal Lutheran University. Kara and her husband Jeff, have been married for 11 years. They have two children, Lucas (7) and Kamryn (3). 

Sharon Robinson

Diabetes Clinical Manager Santa Barbara Region, Medtronic

Sharon graduated in 1985 with BSN and worked as an RN in several of the labor and delivery units in the Miami area right out of nursing school. Working in several high risk Perinatal units she was drawn to the management of Diabetes in pregnancy and high risk pregnancies.

Worked as a High Risk Perinatal nurse for a home care company which specialized in High Risk pregnancies for over 25 years, with multiple roles

  During that time she worked in several Maternal Fetal Medicine practices assisting with management of patients who had Diabetes in pregnancy.

After moving to California in 2009  took a position with Medtronic as the Diabetes Clinical Manager for the Santa Barbara area. In this role she works closely with patients and HCP’s to obtain more positive outcomes.