This is meant to be a roll of individuals each of whom has made a major contribution to the understanding and/or treatment of diabetes mellitus, and whose work has stood the test of time. In other words, the giants.
I will start it off by nominating three people and one Honorable Mention.
Nominees
Frederick Banting [1891 - 1941]
I imagine everyone here knows who Banting was and what he did. But for the record:
Sir Frederick Banting, KBE, MC, FRS, FRSC was a Canadian doctor and scientist who was the first person to treat humans with insulin. In 1923 he and John James Rickard Macleod shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine for their work. At age 32, Banting remains the youngest person to receive that prize. The work of Banting, his assistant Charles Best, and Macleod changed diabetes from an automatic death sentence to a treatable condition and forever altered the life of every person diagnosed since.
Elliott P. Joslin [1869 - 1962]
Elliott Joslin was the first doctor in the United States to specialize in the treatment of diabetes and was the founder of the world renowned Joslin Diabetes Center. He was the first to focus on training patients to manage their own diabetes. He is also an acknowledged pioneer in blood glucose management, advocating for tight control in order to prevent or minimize complications. When this approach was validated by the landmark Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) in the early 1990s, many Joslin Center staff members were seen wearing buttons reading “We Told You So.”
Claude Bernard [1813 - 1878]
Claude Bernard was a French physologist who has been called “one of the greatest of all men of science.” He was among the very first to urge the use of blind experiments to insure the validity of research studies. He is remembered today for such major contributions to physiology as the discovery of the vasomotor system, the functions of the pancreas in digestion, and the glycogenic function of the liver, among many others. He found physiology a collection of hand-me-down traditions and left it an exact science.
Honorable Mention
James D. Watson[1928 - ]
and Francis Crick[1916 - 2004]
Watson and Crick were molecular biologists who correctly identified the double helix structure of DNA. Along with Maurice Wilkins, they shared the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for this work. Although their research was not specifically aimed at diabetes -- nor for that matter at any particular disease or condition -- their discovery made possible such things as the use of recombinant DNA, which in turn made possible today’s analog insulins.
In 1949 Best co-founds the Diabetic Association of Ontario, which in 1953 becomes the Canadian Diabetes Association and Camp Banting, Canada’s first camp for children with diabetes, opens near Ottawa.
LOL. They aren't really "rules". Just meant that if they've made significant contributions to the field, people would probably like to know some details about them. :)
how about dr. henry dolger who figured out how to save diabetic mothers's babies by delivering them in the 8th. month. & laser surgery to save our sight, etc...
i could name a few others, etc...
For being the first patient to do self monitored blood sugar in 1970 and his advocacy for it's use. For the introduction of the basal/bolus therapy. For the advocacy that tight blood sugar control reduced complications, finally demonstrated unequivocally in 1993 overturning 50 years of "wisdom." And finally for his untiring advocacy of low carb diets that have been part of diabetes treatment for more than 150 years but for the last 50 have been disparaged as "unhealthy" despite seeming strong evidence otherwise.
ps. We must also realize that many, if not most of these people we recognize may well be people we don't or would not personally like. But we should recognize their contributions.
I would also suggest Dr. Patricia White (1900-1989) who worked alongside Joslin. When she joined Joslin in 1924, only half of pregnancies were successful. By the time she retired in 1974, due largly to her work, the success rate was over 90%. During her career she delivered 2200 babies and supervised 10,000 T1 cases. She was the first woman to be awarded the Banting medal.
I nominate my mom. I was diagnosed when I was 1 and am now 42. She knew nothing and back then, there were less fancy technology to deal with. She is a rock star in my mind. Thanks mom!!!!!
I nominate Eva & Victor Saxyl, Victor, who was a doctor, made insulin from water buffalos, saving Eva's life and the lives of many more pwd in the Shanghai Ghetto in WWII when medical supplies were cut off. Eva went on to be very open about her diabetes and to help children with diabetes in South America to get insulin and medical supplies to treat their diabetes.
I also Nominate Charles Best, Banting gave him half of his Nobel Prize money when Best was not given the award as well.
He didn't introduce basal/bolus...he might claim he did, but am pretty sure Krogh and Hagedorn at Novo would have a lot to say about it considering they claim the creation of it back in 1953 with their creation of the first long acting insulins for the therapy (pretty vile reading considering it was mostly fish semen, zinc and pig and cow based back then).
As for his other "wisdoms" they are debatable at best. Fanatical along with his believers yes, but hall of fame no. White and the others, yes.
This discussion is meant to single out people who deserve to be honored, not to dispute who's really a good guy and who isn't. Sometimes these topics can degenerate into arguments about just that. Please don't let that happen here. It's certainly everyone's right to have different opinions about people, but please limit comments to positive endorsements of people who have made major contributions to the well being of the overall diabetic community.
