I was fortunate to once again be able to attend Carb DM's SF Bay Area Type 1 Diabetes Summit, held on March 25, 2018. Carb DM does a remarkable job in getting the best speakers on Type 1 diabetes; this year was no exception.
The talk that I found most interesting was the keynote speaker, Yiduo Wu PhD from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Dr. Wu heads the FDA's Diabetes Device Branch, where he has been instrumental in getting diabetes devices to the market faster, while taking a patient-centered approach. With his team, Dr. Wu approved the first automated insulin delivery system, the Medtronic 670G. I think even Medtronic was surprised by how quickly it was approved! Notably, the FDA was able to approved a patient request in just one day--patients in the 670G clinical trials petitioned to be able to remain on the device, and one day later their request was approved. That is a patient-centered focus. Later, I was in the lunch line with Dr. Wu, and was able to personally thank him for his work and encouraged him to keep it up. Two days after Dr. Wu presented to us, the FDA approved the Dexcom G6. Wow!
Another speaker, Dr. David Maahs of Stanford, spoke about the progress being made with automated insulin delivery devices (AKA the artificial pancreas). I ran into Dr. Maahs as I was headed for another program, and had a brief conversation where I thanked him for his work, and told him that when I was diagnosed I never imagined I would see this kind of progress in my lifetime. Dr. Maahs said, "We are in the golden age of Type 1 diabetes."
I attended breakout sessions on exercise for adults with Type 1, and a session on diabetes apps by MySugr's Kyle Rose. Exercise has always been my biggest challenge, where I have the most problem with lows. The exercise panelists represented a broad range of exercise types, and their tips were useful.
A big help for me always is the vendor fair. I bought the perfect Dexcom G5 receiver case from Too Sweet Boutique--I like to clip my receiver to my pant loop when exercising and now have the perfect case. I also spent a lot of time talking with the Dexcom rep, as I have just moved to the G5 and wanted information; I also spent a lot of time talking with the Tandem T:slim rep, as I have an Animas pump and will need to move to a new system soon.
Kudos to the founder and executive director of CarbDM, Tamar Sofer-Geri (mom to a T1 child) and her team for this excellent conference! Next year's Summit will be held on Sunday, April 14, 2019.
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