Diabetes, which affects almost 30 million Americans is the leading cause of kidney failure, lower-limb amputations, and adult-onset blindness. More than 20% of health care spending is for people with diagnosed diabetes. Diabetes technology is a term created in 1999 referring to the interface between the biological sciences and the physical sciences. The term describes engineered technologies applied primarily to monitor and treat diabetes. Currently eight of the most productive engineered technologies that are being applied to diabetes include: 1) blood glucose monitoring; 2) subcutaneous continuous glucose monitoring; 3) wearable and implantable sensors; 4) insulin pumps; 5) closed loop systems (artificial pancreas); 6) telemedicine / mobile health; 7) big data and precision medicine; and 8) cybersecurity of connected devices. This presentation will summarize current advances in these eight technologies and present a major unmet need for each of them. Barriers to achieving maximal benefits from all these technologies can be overcome by creative engineers, to meet the needs of patients with diabetes.
David C. Klonoff, M.D. is an endocrinologist specializing in diabetes technology. He is Medical Director of the Dorothy L. and James E. Frank Diabetes Research Institute of Mills-Peninsula Health Services in San Mateo and a Clinical Professor of Medicine at UCSF. Dr. Klonoff received an FDA Director’s Special Citation Award in 2010 for outstanding contributions related to diabetes technology. He has been cited as being in the top 1% of endocrinologists nationally by Castle Connolly Medical Ltd. In 2012 Dr. Klonoff was elected as a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) and cited as among the top 2% of the world’s bioengineers for his engineering work in diabetes technology. He is the Founding Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology. Dr. Klonoff has chaired or served on grant review panels for NIH, CDC, NASA, NSF, US Army, ADA, JDRF, Yale University, and University of Michigan. He has authored over 240 publications and was featured in Wired Magazine last year for his work in cybersecurity of medical devices. Dr. Klonoff is a graduate of UC Berkeley, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in his junior year, and UCSF Medical School, where he was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha in his junior year. His postgraduate training included two years at UCLA Hospital and three years at UCSF Hospitals.
