The Corner Booth

Many experts believe that diabetes care is ideally suited to telehealth, given the fact that glucose readings and other data guide disease management — and that can easily be jointly reviewed and discussed by doctors and patients over digital platforms. While there is mounting evidence that the explosion in telehealth due to COVID-19 is a boon to people with diabetes (PWDs), there's also a fight underway to make sure that new policies supporting this virtual care stay in place when the pandemic eventually subsides. New data on diabetes telehealth experiences In its 2020 State of Telemedicine Report published by physician network company Doximity , endocrinology got the top ranking for the specialty that's using telemedicine the most since the onset of COVID-19. Among the other findings is how Americans with chronic conditions like diabetes increased their use of telemedicine to 77 percent during the pandemic. This isn't surprising, and it confirms researc...

Dr. Drew Weissman at the University of Pennsylvania isn't one to seek the spotlight. But as one of the two key researchers behind the science used to develop the first COVID-19 vaccines, his name has leapt into public view as of late 2020. Self-described as "just a basic scientist," Weissman is a modest man who has spent his lifetime devoted to research. He also happens to be living with type 1 diabetes (T1D) for more than 50 years, spanning the two decades that he and his colleagues have spent digging into the vaccine-related research that's become so critical to public health at the moment. Weissman may not be advertising that he lives with T1D, but a recent photograph of him getting his own COVID-19 vaccine shot in mid-December tipped off the public that he's sporting an insulin pump on his belt. DiabetesMine spoke with Weissman by phone in early 2021, just as President Joe Biden took office and the scattered vaccine distribution was making...