John Buse, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, has been named the new chair of the National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP), a joint program of the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, NDEP announced today. The appointment, for a two-year term, is effective Jan. 1, 2012.
Since 1997, the NDEP has engaged public and private partnerships to improve diabetes management and outcomes, to promote early diagnosis, and to prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes in the United States and its territories. Nearly 26 million Americans have diabetes, and 79 million have prediabetes, a condition that places them at increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
“Our nation is facing a diabetes crisis. The disease is affecting more people and at younger ages. The NDEP plays a unique role in bringing together diverse stakeholders to foster cooperation and collaboration to translate research-proven approaches to prevention and therapy into action by patients, providers and communities,” said Buse.
Buse will guide the NDEP in its efforts to reduce the burden of diabetes. NDEP facilitates the adoption of proven approaches to improve the health of people with diabetes and to prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes. Buse is charged with strengthening the program’s outreach and engagement with partners and leading activities to support NDEP’s mission to empower patients, health care providers and communities to improve diabetes-related health care and prevention efforts.
“Dr. Buse is a proven leader in the diabetes community whose expertise and insight will be invaluable to the NDEP,” said Judith Fradkin, M.D., director of the Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolic Diseases for NIH’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. “As NDEP prepares to recognize its 15-year anniversary in 2012, Dr. Buse’s leadership will ensure that the program continues to play an important role in supporting improved diabetes prevention and care through its work to translate new research findings to patients, their families, health care professionals, and communities.”
Buse’s leadership role with the NDEP builds on notable accomplishments spanning more than 25 years. Currently a medical professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, he serves as the director of the Diabetes Care Center, chief of the Division of Endocrinology and executive associate dean for clinical research, and works within the leadership of the North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute, home of the UNC NIH Clinical and Translational Science Awards. He has played key roles in numerous multicenter clinical trials, including two major NIH-sponsored trials: ACCORD (Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes), for which he serves as study vice-chair, and STOPP-T2D (Studies to Treat Or Prevent Pediatric Type 2 Diabetes). Buse served as 2008 president, medicine and science, of the American Diabetes Association (ADA), for which he has also chaired many committees and task forces. He was also on the board of the Carolinas affiliate of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists. He is a former associate editor of the ADA journals Clinical Diabetes and Diabetes Care.
Buse succeeds Martha (Marti) Funnell, M.S., R.N., as chair of the NDEP. Funnell is a researcher at the University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, and co-director of the Behavioral, Clinical, and Health Systems Intervention Research Core at the Michigan Diabetes Research and Training Center.
“During Ms. Funnell’s leadership, the NDEP has taken major strides in its efforts to raise awareness about diabetes and to address the psychosocial and lifestyle-change challenges associated with diabetes self-management. This has resulted in the development of NDEP’s new behavior change tool, DiabetesHealthSense (www.YourDiabetesInfo.org/HealthSense), which provides resources and tools to support health care professionals and their patients when it comes to achieving and sustaining health goals,” said Ann Albright, Ph.D., director of the Division of Diabetes Translation at CDC. “We are extremely grateful to Ms. Funnell and look forward to her continued involvement with the NDEP as a member of its Support for Behavior Change Task Group.”
With its more than 200 partner organizations, the NDEP identifies, disseminates, and supports the adoption of evidence-based, culturally and linguistically appropriate tools and resources that support behavior change, improved quality of life, and better diabetes outcomes. NDEP resources are available at www.YourDiabetesInfo.org or by calling toll-free 1-888-693-NDEP (1-888-693-6337).
The NIDDK, a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), conducts and supports research on diabetes and other endocrine and metabolic diseases; digestive diseases, nutrition and obesity; and kidney, urologic and hematologic diseases. Spanning the full spectrum of medicine and afflicting people of all ages and ethnic groups, these diseases encompass some of the most common, severe, and disabling conditions affecting Americans. For more information about the NIDDK and its programs, see www.niddk.nih.gov.
CDC’s Division of Diabetes Translation works to reduce the preventable burden of diabetes through public health leadership, partnership, research, programs, and policies that translate science into practice. For more information, see www.cdc.gov/diabetes.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
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