Keynote Speakers

William Polansky, PhD, CDE  

Diabetes Self-Management Education and Behavior Modification: Theory, Evidence and Application  

Dr. Polonsky is President and Founder of the Behavioral Diabetes Institute, the world's first organization dedicated to tackling the unmet psychological needs of people with diabetes. A licensed clinical psychologist, certified diabetes educator and associate clinical professor in Psychiatry at the University of California San Diego, he has served on the editorial boards of numerous professional and lay publications, including Diabetes Care, Diabetes Forecast, Clinical Diabetes, Diabetes Self-Management and Diabetes Health. In addition to his professional and research publications, he is probably best known as the the author of  Diabetes Burnout: What to Do When You Can’t Take it Anymore, a popular book for patients published by the American Diabetes Association. Dr. Polonsky received his PhD in clinical psychology from Yale University and has served as Senior Psychologist at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, faculty member at Harvard Medical School and Chairman of the National Certification Board for Diabetes Educators.

Dr. Juan Ruiz

Therapeutic Patient Education:  Motivation to Change and Self-manage the Disease: Illusion or Reality?

Dr. Ruiz is employed with the Department of Endocrinology, Diabetology, and Metabolism, Centre Hospitalier at the Universitaire Vaudois located in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Breakout Sessions

Marti Funnell, MS, RN, CDE

Behavior Change Strategies and Psychosocial Effects (Patient Perspective)

This session is based on studies of different behavior change strategies and feedback received from patients, discussions about strategies that patients more readily accept than others (from a patent perspective), what works, what is more challenging, and what diabetes educators should know will be discussed.

Anne Belton, RN, BA,CDE

Behavior Change Strategies: What Diabetes Educators Need to Know (Educator Perspective)

Diabetes educators around the world are at different ends of a spectrum regarding counseling for behavior change. For some, the role is evolving and they are not yet seen as key in helping people strategize for self-management.  For others that role is well defined. The different ends of the spectrum demand different levels of knowledge and skills. Core skills that are common to all educators will be determined in this session.

Behavior Change Strategies in Prevention of Diabetes and Obesity

Obesity has now become a global epidemic.   This program will discuss best practice strategies and interventions. Cultural influences, ethnicity as factors and the role of the diabetes educator in managing obesity will be presented.

Padmini Balagopal, RD, CDE

Linda Valentino, RN, MSN

Therapeutic Patient Education Healthcare Continuum:  From Hospital to Home

Smoothing the transition from hospital to home is not easy task when the patient has diabetes. Self-management training left to the last moment, may increase morbidity and re-admission. Learn how a case management model can be used to implement case management strategies that facilitate improved outcomes.

Arun Baksi, MD

Esther Gil-Zorzo

Behavior Change and Chronic Disease Management: Role of Peers and Health Promoters

Therapeutic education is a process that requires the intervention of all the agents that surround people who have diabetes. One of the principal functions of diabetes educators is that of generating these types of peer groups. Peer advisers are a useful resource and are valuable members of the diabetes team. However, health professionals are reluctant to use their services. Solutions will be presented including issues pertaining to clinical governance and objectives of training peer advisers.

Linda Siminerio, RN, PhD, CDE

Frank Snoek, PhD

Diabetes Self-Management Education (DSME): How Do We Measure Success? 

This session will present two successful ways of measuring success in DSME from different countries.  The approach(s), tools and techniques used to measure a successful outcome of DSME will be discussed.

Joel Rodriguez, MD

Juan Jose Gagliardino, MD

Train the Trainer: Curricula for Effective Self-Management

Diabetes presents a worldwide burden, mainly as a consequence of the development of its chronic complications.  Active participation of people with diabetes is the key success factor in diabetes treatment.  International standards of diabetes knowledge and educational/behavioral principles will be discussed in this session.

Augusto Pimazoni, MD 
Jane Gile, RN CDE
Waine Sheu, MD, PhD
Seyda Ozscan, RN, PhD

National Health Care System: Diabetes Education Model

National and international diabetes entities working together in a symbiotic fashion play a major role in the development and implementation of diabetes education programs. The presenters from four different continents will provide a general overview of common pitfalls and misconceptions about diabetes education concepts and programs which can happen in both private and government programs.