Program brings latest information to patients with type-1 diabetes

January 18, 2007

"Tackling Diabetes," a free, four-hour symposium at the University of Chicago Medical Center, will present the latest research on treatment of the disease for patients with diabetes, particularly those who are taking insulin.

From 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday, March 3, 2007, three physicians and a former National Football League all star -- who played the sport for six years after being diagnosed with diabetes -- will talk about recent progress in understanding diabetes, improving treatment, preventing complications, reconciling the demands of treatment with leading a normal life, and new treatment technologies likely to emerge in the near future.

"When I was first diagnosed in September, 1964," recalled Mike Pyle, former center for the Chicago Bears, "the coaches immediately said 'don't tell anybody.' People didn't talk about it back then. There were only three people with diabetes, that I knew of, in all of professional sports. And treatment was difficult. I had to go to a hospital every morning to draw blood to test my blood sugars. That's all changed."

"The management of diabetes has vastly improved since then, but the better news is that these changes are coming faster then ever," said diabetes specialist Louis Philipson, MD, PhD, professor of medicine and director of the comprehensive diabetes center at the University of Chicago. "This program is designed to bring patients up to speed in terms of what we can do for them now, as well as what we expect to be able to offer quite soon."

Philipson and Pyle will be joined at the symposium by cardiologist Matthew Sorrentino and podiatrist Ann Zmuda who will speak about how to protect the heart and the feet from the damage caused by diabetes.

The program is free and open to all patients with type-1 diabetes. It will be held in the fourth-floor atrium of the Duchossois Center for Advanced Medicine, 5758 S. Maryland Ave., on the University of Chicago campus. Parking in the main hospital parking garage is free for those who attend. There will be a light breakfast.

Registration is required. To register, call (773) 702-2371 or email diabetes@uchospitals.edu by February 25.

When

8 a.m. to noon, Saturday, March 3, 2007

Where

Duchossois Center for Advanced Medicine
5758 S. Maryland Avenue, 4th Floor Atrium
Chicago, IL 60637
Directions