Author: Tracy McQuire

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Thank You for Another Year of Moving Diabetes Research into Action (2025)

As we close out 2025, we want to say thank you to everyone who is part of the Diabetes Action Canada (DAC) Network. This work moves forward because people show up, with their expertise, lived experience, and a real willingness to work together across disciplines and sectors.

The holidays are a chance to slow down and recharge, but it is also a moment to look back on the year we have had and what is ahead. We have accomplished a lot together, and I wanted to share a few highlights with you here.

2025 Highlights

• Published three DAC-led papers on patient-oriented research and patient engagement, including the 4Ls Framework (Diabetes in Four Dialects).
• Research-to-Action Fellowship resources from our inaugural cohort surpassed 100,000 downloads across 130 countries.
• Welcomed a new Fellowship cohort and launched this year’s projects at the Diabetes Canada Conference in November 2025.
• Deepened our partnership with the Indigenous Diabetes Health Circle (IDHC), including signing a collaborative relationship agreement in Thorold, Ontario.
• Hosted three DAC Network Action Sessions on diabetes remission, peer support in type 1 diabetes, and islet and stem cell innovation.
• Save the date: our next Network Action Session is January 12, 2026 at 2:00 PM ET (Best Practices in Knowledge Mobilization with Drs. Monika Kastner and Diana Sherifali).

Evidence and Community Learning in 2025

Publications

This year, DAC published several papers that reflect how we approach patient-oriented research in practice. The 4Ls paper gives us a common way to talk about why lived, loved, learned, and laboured experience matters in shaping better research and care. Our Workshop paper reflects on eight years of planning academic meetings alongside Patient Partners and what we’ve learned along the way. We also released a new paper that looks at how Patient Partner feedback and co-design helped us strengthen the DAC Patient Engagement Program as the Network evolved. It’s been meaningful to see this work resonate, with these papers downloaded more than 2,000 times so far.

Read: Diabetes in Four Dialects (4Ls Framework) 👉: Diabetes in Four Dialects: A Global Call for Equity
Read: Partnering for Impact (Workshop paper) 👉: Partnering for impact: best practices for planning in-person academic events with Patient Partners involvement– Lessons learned from Diabetes Action Canada
Read: Optimizing patient partner engagement and integration in research (Patient Partner feedback + co-design)👉: Optimizing patient partner engagement and integration in research

Community learning and conferences

We spent a lot of this past year connecting with the broader diabetes and health research community, including at the Diabetes Canada Professional Conference, American Diabetes Association (ADA), International Diabetes Federation (IDF), Research Canada, International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes (ISPAD), National Indigenous Diabetes Association (NIDA), Canadian Association for Health Services and Policy Research (CAHSPR), and the TIMED Consortium meeting in the Netherlands, to name a few.

These spaces matter. They are where ideas are tested, partnerships take place, and help us stay focused on issues that matter to patients, providers, and communities.

Capacity-Building and Key Partnerships

Research-to-Action Fellowship

The Research-to-Action Fellowship has become a cornerstone of DAC’s work and is shaped from start to finish with our Patient Partners. In the inaugural cohort, Fellows worked with community and health organizations to co-create practical resources (found here), including self-advocacy tools, comics, culturally tailored education materials, and infographics, all grounded in lived experience and community priorities. These projects were featured at eight national and international conferences and have been downloaded more than 100,000 times across 130 countries.

In May, we welcomed a new Fellowship cohort, who will complete their projects in January 2026. Showcased at the Diabetes Canada Conference in November 2025, this year’s projects focus on diabetes stigma, misdiagnosis and self-advocacy, women’s health and diabetes, cell therapy education, and diabetes technology decision-making. Partner organizations include the Australian Centre for Behavioural Research in Diabetes, Indigenous Diabetes Health Circle, Tidepool, Alberta Diabetes Institute, and Children with Diabetes.

A selection of tools is available for early testing here👉: https://linktr.ee/diabetesactioncanada

Indigenous Diabetes Health Circle Partnership

This year, we continued to deepen our long-standing partnership with the Indigenous Diabetes Health Circle (IDHC) and formally signed a collaborative relationship agreement at their head office in Thorold, Ontario.

Our work together spans many years and initiatives, including diabetic retinopathy screening, lower limb preservation, and collaboration through the Research-to-Action Fellowship. This relationship is grounded in trust, reciprocity, and a shared commitment to Indigenous-led approaches to diabetes wellness.

Over the past year, it has continued to grow through our involvement in Karihwahstha, an Indigenous-governed initiative supporting culturally grounded diabetes care, knowledge sharing, and community-defined priorities. We are grateful for IDHC’s leadership and guidance and for the opportunity to continue walking this path together.

From Conversation to Action

This year, DAC hosted three Network Action Sessions, bringing patient partners, researchers, clinicians, and system leaders together to focus on shared priorities and practical next steps.

Together, we explored islet and stem cell innovation, diabetes remission, and peer support in type 1 diabetes, grounding conversations in lived experience, feasibility, and impact. The goal was simple: connect evidence to lived experience and identify what could realistically move forward.

Missed a session? You can find short summaries and the YouTube recordings here:

Diabetes Remission: An Implementation and Knowledge Mobilization Opportunity
CommuniT1D / CommunauDT1
Islet & Stem Cell Transplants for Diabetes: Fact, Fiction, or Fantasy?

Save the date! Our next Network Action Session is on January 12, 2026 at 2:00 PM ET, featuring Drs. Monika Kastner and Diana Sherifali.

We’ll take a practical look at Best Practices in Knowledge Mobilization: A Case Study in Type 2 Diabetes Remission, and explore how DAC’s knowledge mobilization program helps move evidence into community settings.

Register here 👉: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/KfilbfVXQwmYj12WoO8pzQ

Selected DAC-supported Publications (2025)

DAC supports research across the supports diabetes research through our patient engagement, digital health, and knowledge mobilization programs. This work is driven by people across the Network who bring lived experience and expertise to the questions being explored.

Below are a few examples of publications DAC contributed to this year. These publications span type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, complications, health services, and equity.

• Testing a digital care program for young adults with type 1 diabetes (PI: Carly Whitmore)
• Preparing a community diabetes program for scale-up in older adults (PI: Melissa Northwood)
• Predicting kidney disease risk in people with diabetes using health records (PI: Huaxiong Huang)
• How drug coverage affects diabetes medication use in older adults (PI: Darren Lau)
• Medication adherence and heart outcomes in diabetes and hypertension (PI: Xiaolin Wei)
• Social factors and diabetes technology use in Quebec (PI: Alanna Weisman)
• Improving the healthcare experience for people with type 1 diabetes (ReShapeT1D) (PI: Rose Yeung)
• Can type 2 diabetes go into remission without surgery? (PI: Diana Sherifali)
• Automated insulin delivery in children and teens with type 1 diabetes (PI: Jon McGavock)
• Evaluating a community health program for older adults (PI: Melissa Northwood, Diana Sherifali)
• Equity and cost impacts of diabetic eye screening (PI: Valeria Rac)
• Trends in diabetes-related foot complications and amputations (PI: Charles de Mestral)
• Does diabetes duration affect exercise benefits? (PI: Martin Sénéchal)
• Effective smoking cessation programs for women (PI: Osnat Melamed)

Looking Ahead

Global End Diabetes Stigma Summit (March 2026)

In 2026, our team is contributing to planning and Canadian representation at the Global End Stigma Summit (March 28–29, 2026), in Jaipur, India. It’s an opportunity to share what we’re learning in Canada and learn alongside partners working to change how diabetes is understood and discussed.

In November, we submitted our application to CIHR for continued funding for Diabetes Action Canada over the next two years. We are grateful to see strong partner commitment and new partners joining the Network. More to come on this and other exciting plans ahead – 2026 is shaping up to be an important year.

With Gratitude

Thank you to our Patient Partners, Fellows, researchers, clinicians, community organizations, and supporters for your time, insight, and commitment. It is a privilege to do this work together. Wishing you a restful holiday season and a strong start to 2026.

We’re excited to share a major milestone for Diabetes Action Canada (DAC): a new peer-reviewed paper, “Partnering for impact: best practices for planning in-person academic events with Patient Partners involvement – Lessons learned from Diabetes Action Canada,” was published in Research Involvement and Engagement in May 2025.

Link here: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40900-025-00729-9

This paper shares key insights and practical lessons from eight years of DAC’s in-person workshops, gatherings designed not just about people with lived experience of diabetes, but with them at the centre of planning and delivery. Over that time, more than 100 researchers, clinicians, policymakers, and Patient Partners have collaborated to build inclusive, accessible, and impactful spaces for dialogue and learning.

What makes this publication especially meaningful is that it was co-designed and co-written with Patient Partners, from start to finish. Patient Partners played central roles in shaping the research questions, planning the workshop described in the case study, and contributing as authors. This highlights DAC’s approach and commitment to authentic partnership and shared leadership in patient-oriented research.

The paper outlines practical strategies that promoted equitable participation and strengthened collaboration across disciplines; from co-designed agendas and symbolic markers highlighting Patient Partner presentations to facilitated networking opportunities that encouraged meaningful connections. These practices helped address power imbalances, ensure accessibility, and support genuine engagement for all participants.

Already, this work is gaining international attention, reinforcing a simple but powerful message: research spaces are stronger when they are built with, not just for, those most affected. These lessons offer a practical roadmap for organizations committed to moving patient engagement from principle to practice.

Read the full open-access paper here: Partnering for impact: best practices for planning in-person academic events with Patient Partners involvement– Lessons learned from Diabetes Action Canada

The Diabetes Action Canada team returned from the 2025 Diabetes Canada Professional Conference feeling energized, and inspired by the connections and conversations that shaped a great week. This annual gathering remains one of the few moments where our national community can come together in person, off Zoom, out of email, and reconnect as colleagues, partners, and friends working toward better outcomes for people living with diabetes across Canada.

Bringing the Community Together

This Conference is always a highlight on our calendar. A special thank you to Diabetes Canada for hosting yet another great event. The program created space to share new science, learn from one another, and strengthen relationships that make progress possible. For our team, the week reaffirmed just how powerful patient-oriented research can be when lived experience guides the work.

A Standout Moment: The DAC Breakfast

One of the best parts of the week for our team was our Diabetes Action Canada Breakfast, where the 2025–26 Research-to-Action Fellowship cohort presented their projects. Each Fellow showcased a resource, story, or tool built with, and led by, our Patient Partners, offering creative, practical ways to bring research evidence into everyday life.

You can meet our Fellows here 👉 https://diabetesaction.ca/fellowship-2025-cohort/

Fellowship Project Highlights

1. Stigma Project
Partner: Australian Centre for Behavioural Research in Diabetes

• Who: Brit Hancock and Fizza Abbas
• What: When Words Hurt and When They Heal: A Nursing Toolkit on Diabetes Stigma – a training workshop for medical and nursing students focused on empathetic, non-stigmatizing diabetes care. Using real stories, it shows how shame, blame, and stigma surface in clinical encounters and how better language can shift experiences.
• Why: Directly supports Diabetes Canada’s Change the Conversation campaign and strengthens international collaboration on reducing diabetes stigma.

2. Misdiagnosis Project
Partner: Indigenous Diabetes Health Circle

• Who: Jeremy Auger and Anmol Budhiraja
• What: Diabetes Answers for Us: Pocket Cards for Clinic Visits – small, easy-to-use cards reminding people of their rights in the doctor’s office and the questions to ask. They list key diagnostic tests, explain results in plain language, and help people connect symptoms to possible diabetes to get appropriate follow-up.
• Why: Builds self-advocacy, improves health literacy, and supports culturally grounded diabetes care within Indigenous communities..

3. Women’s Health & Diabetes Project
Partner: Tidepool

• Who: Maryann Maloney and Wajeeha Cheema
• What: Things I Learned the Hard Way: Women’s Health & Diabetes Book –  a storytelling e-book sharing first-person experiences across reproductive and hormonal life stages. Drawing on stories from women and gender-diverse people in more than eight countries, it blends lived experience with evidence and practical guidance on diagnosis, puberty, pregnancy, parenting, work, menopause, and aging.
• Why: Elevates women’s voices and advances patient-driven innovation with an internationally respected nonprofit.

4. Cell Therapy 101 Project
Partner: Alberta Diabetes Institute

• Who: Alex St. John and Emily Burke-Hall
• What: Cell Therapy 101: Plain-Language Carousels – a three-part infographic series explaining the past, present, and future of cell therapy. It highlights key milestones from the Edmonton Protocol to today’s innovations, outlining benefits, risks, and gaps. The series is grounded in insights from more than 12 transplant recipients to show the real-life impact of this evolving field.
• Why: Makes highly technical science accessible for people living with diabetes, supporting Diabetes Canada’s commitment to patient-friendly education.

5. AID-101 Project
Partner: Children with Diabetes

• Who: Amanda Knight and Najeeb Ashraf
• What: Pick My Pump: AI Diabetes Tech Chatbot. an AI-powered tool to help parents and adults compare diabetes technologies. It draws only from verified manuals and summarized device information (no web scraping, no guessing) to support informed choices about pumps and algorithms.
• Why: Responds to a rapidly growing need for clear, unbiased guidance on diabetes technology, a priority for patients, caregivers, and clinicians.

Want to contribute or test some of these projects?
Try our beta tools here 👉 https://linktr.ee/diabetesactioncanada

The room was buzzing with questions, ideas, and new collaborations. It was wonderful to watch our Fellows throughout the week; asking smart questions, sharing their expertise on patient engagement, and connecting with researchers from across Canada. They are a remarkable group and truly represent the next generation of trained patient partners.

Honouring a Leader: Dr. Catharine Whiteside

Another highlight for our team was joining the celebration of Dr. Catharine Whiteside in her retirement. Dr. Whiteside has shaped the diabetes research landscape in Canada in ways that are hard to quantify, but easy to feel. Her leadership, high standards, and unwavering belief in meaningful patient partnership have influenced countless researchers, programs, and organizations. It was truly special to see her honoured by a community she has supported, mentored, and strengthened for so many years.

Spotlight Panel: Low Priority and the Power of Storytelling

A major highlight of the conference was the premiere of Low Priority (Low 2), an arts-based film grounded in the lived experience of people navigating diabetes while facing homelessness, housing instability, or dealing with unstable living conditions and limited support. Co-created with co-researchers from the Calgary Diabetes Advocacy Committee (CDAC), a group of people with lived experience of both diabetes and homelessness, the film exposes realities that rarely appear in clinical guidelines, research papers, or policy frameworks.

The first film, Low, premiered in 2023 and follows Bobby, a person living with type 1 diabetes and navigating the shelter system. It opened conversations about the emotional, social, and practical realities of managing diabetes without a stable home, and the stigma and unconscious bias that can lead to serious adverse events.

Low Priority (Low 2) continues Bobby’s journey as he moves through the hospital system. The film shines a light on what happens in emergency rooms when someone has no fixed address, how assumptions and unconscious bias shape interactions with healthcare workers, how delays in treatment occur, and how the system is simply not designed for people who are managing both diabetes and homelessness. It asks us to confront how quickly snap judgments and structural gaps can lead to real consequences for those already living at the margins.

The panel brought together the filmmaking team, CDAC co-researchers, clinicians, and researchers to discuss how storytelling can:

• build empathy and reduce stigma
• surface realities that rarely make it into clinical guidelines
• push us to rethink how care is delivered
• deepen our understanding of what truly person-centred care requires

As always, the most powerful insights came from the co-researchers who shaped these films. Their voices, leadership, and generosity are what make this work so impactful.

If you haven’t seen Low you can want the film on our website here:

👉 https://diabetesaction.ca/low/

A Month of Reflection and Gratitude

The conference also coincided with the end of Diabetes Month, an opportunity for our team to pause and appreciate everyone who makes progress possible:

• the scientists and clinicians whose work turned insulin from an idea into lifesaving reality
• the patient partners who ask the hardest and most important questions: “What does this mean in real life?”
• the communities who continually share their stories, time, and trust

From Nobel Prize winning discoveries to modern, co-designed tools and films, progress in diabetes has always relied on partnership.

Looking Ahead

We left this year’s conference inspired by the energy, generosity, and commitment of the diabetes community and incredibly proud of how our Fellows, Patient Partners, and team showed up throughout the week.

Thank you to everyone who joined our sessions, connected with our Fellows, or engaged in conversations about patient-oriented research. We can’t wait to carry this momentum into the year ahead.

Already counting down to next year...Vancouver here we come!

Diabetes Action Canada is pleased to share that Low 2, the second film in this arts-based series co-created with Co-researchers with lived experience from the Calgary Diabetes Advocacy Committee (CDAC), will be screened at the Diabetes Canada Professional Conference on November 27, 2025.

Building on the success of the original film Low, this new chapter continues to illuminate the emotional, social, and practical realities of living with type 1 diabetes, told directly through the voices of those with lived experience.

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Research Shows the Impact of Arts-Based Knowledge Mobilization

Earlier this year, the DAC team led by Dr. David Campbell published an evaluation of Low in Health Education & Behavior, demonstrating how arts-based storytelling can deepen understanding of diabetes stigma and improve communication between patients and providers.

Read the full paper here: 👉 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10901981251332235

The study highlighted several key outcomes:

• Reduced diabetes stigma by presenting lived experience in an authentic and accessible way.
• Enhanced empathy and understanding among clinicians, trainees, and policymakers.
• More patient-centred communication practices, with many viewers reporting meaningful changes in how they support people living with diabetes.
• Validation and empowerment for individuals who saw their own experiences reflected on screen.

These findings underscore the value of arts-based knowledge mobilization in shifting mindsets and bridging the gap between research evidence and real-world experience.

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About Low 2

Low 2 continues the story that began in the original film, offering a deeper look at the lived realities of managing type 1 diabetes and challenging the assumptions that contribute to diabetes stigma in a health care setting.

Co-created with co-researchers with lived experience from the Calgary Diabetes Advocacy Committee (CDAC), the film brings forward honest, nuanced experiences that highlight both the emotional weight and the everyday resilience of life with type 1 diabetes. Their leadership shaped every aspect of the narrative, ensuring the film reflects the community’s voice with authenticity and care.

We are honoured to participate in the premiere of Low 2 at the Diabetes Canada Conference and to share this next chapter with the broader diabetes community. We hope it sparks meaningful conversations about empathy, stigma, and the importance of more human-centred approaches to diabetes care.

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Watch Low and Learn More

For those who haven’t yet seen Low, or who want to learn more about the films and the co-creation process behind them, visit our page here:
👉 https://diabetesaction.ca/the-film-low/

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November 10^th-14^th, members of Diabetes Action Canada travelled to Wageningen, Netherlands, to join colleagues from across Canada and the Netherlands for the end-of-grant meeting of the Right Timing to Prevent Type 2 Diabetes (TIMED) Consortium. The gathering marked an important milestone in a collaboration that brings together world-leading chronobiologists, clinicians, implementation scientists, and Patient Partners who have worked collectively to understand how the timing of daily behaviours influences metabolic health.

A partnership built on shared purpose

The TIMED Consortium was created through a 2021 Canada–Netherlands collaboration supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), ZonMw, the Dutch Diabetes Research Foundation (Diabetes Fonds), and Health~Holland. Led by Dr. André Carpentier of the Université de Sherbrooke and Dr. Patrick Schrauwen of Maastricht University, the project explores a deceptively simple question: does it matter when we eat, sleep, and move when it comes to preventing type 2 diabetes?

To answer this, the team combined tightly controlled metabolic studies, analyses of longitudinal cohorts, and real-world lifestyle intervention work. Early findings suggest that aligning daily habits with the body’s 24-hour metabolic clock, such as eating earlier in the day or exercising in the afternoon, may play a meaningful role in reducing diabetes risk. The Wageningen meeting was an opportunity for all partners to come together, share results, and consider how these insights might reach the people and communities who could benefit most.

Patient partnership at the centre

A defining feature of TIMED has been its commitment to patient partnership. At the meeting, Diabetes Action Canada Patient Partners Lucie Vaillancourt and Matt Larsen spoke about how their lived experience shaped the research over the past several years, joined by Dutch Patient Partners Jan Willem and Ted Reckman, who shared their own reflections from the Netherlands. A special thanks to Pam Leblanc, whose leadership in patient partnership has supported this work from the beginning and helped ensure that the voices of people living with diabetes remained central throughout the project.

Together, the Patient Partners described their involvement in co-designing interview guides, reviewing findings in plain language, and advising on how knowledge should be shared with the public and with decision-makers. Their contributions highlighted the difference it makes when people with lived experience are not only consulted, but actively engaged in shaping the direction, relevance, and real-world impact of the research. As Matt noted during the session, “What’s the point of creating an intervention if patients won’t be the ones taking it up?”

The response from attendees made clear how meaningful this contribution has been. Many noted that seeing Patient Partners directly engaged in discussions with scientists broadened their understanding of what collaborative research can look like.

Strengthening impact through knowledge mobilization

Diabetes Action Canada was also invited to deliver a workshop on Knowledge Mobilization, focusing on how to ensure that scientific findings reach the audiences who need them and reach them in time to make a difference. The session highlighted practical ways to communicate research more effectively, including using platforms like LinkedIn to share insights quickly, working with Patient Partners to shape dissemination strategies, and preparing clear, accessible messages early in the research process rather than waiting until publication.

The impact of this conversation was felt almost immediately. Shortly after the workshop, partners from the Dutch Diabetes Fund published a public reflection on the TIMED findings that translated complex chronobiology concepts into everyday language, connecting the science to practical choices like eating earlier in the day or exercising later in the afternoon. It was a powerful example of how thoughtful communication can bridge the space between discovery and real-world usefulness.

Reflections from Wageningen

Throughout the week, discussions ranged from emerging physiological findings to the realities of implementing timing-based interventions in diverse communities. Participants explored how metabolic rhythms are disrupted in modern life, how this disruption may contribute to diabetes risk, and how interventions must account for people’s work schedules, cultural contexts, and daily responsibilities. These conversations resonated strongly with Diabetes Action Canada’s work in patient-oriented research and implementation science, particularly in ensuring that innovations remain grounded in feasibility, equity, and lived experience.

Looking ahead

The TIMED Consortium stands as a model for what international, multi-sector research can achieve when scientific expertise, lived experience, and timely knowledge mobilization come together. The partnership has drawn on Canada’s strengths in metabolic imaging and patient-oriented research, combined with the Netherlands’ deep expertise in chronobiology and controlled physiological studies, to build a body of work that is both rigorous and relevant.

The discussions in Wageningen underscored that meaningful impact requires more than scientific breakthroughs; it requires ensuring that people can see themselves in the research and apply its insights in daily life. The relationships built through TIMED will continue to guide how this knowledge moves from lab benches and meeting rooms into communities where it can make a difference.

The Diabetes Canada Professional Conference is a key opportunity for our Network to connect, learn, and share progress. This agenda highlights Diabetes Action Canada’s activities throughout the week — from presentations and panels to special events that showcase our collaborative, patient-oriented research.

Wednesday November 26th, 2025

Time	Session	Speakers
13:15 – 16:15	DCS1 – Eat Well, Move Smart, Live Strong: A Practical Workshop on Diabetes and Women’s Health	Jane Yardley Cydney Prusky Nicole “Nikki” Fraser Heslin Susie Jin
14:45 – 16:15	SPECIAL EVENT (CanScreen T1D): Can We Prevent Type 1 Diabetes in Canada?	👉 Register here for the CanScreen T1D Symposium

Thursday November 27th, 2025

Time	Session	Speakers
7:30 – 8:30	SPECIAL EVENT FOR MEMBERS: DAC Networking Breakfast	👉 Register here for the DAC Breakfast
10:30 – 11:45	DCS4 – Lifetime Achievement & Early Researcher Awards Lectures	David Campbell Rémi Rabasa-Lhoret
14:30 – 15:45	DCS8 – Clinical Practice Guidelines	Zaina Albalawi Virginie Blanchette Barbara J. MacDonald Arnav Agarwal Iliana C. Lega
14:30 – 15:45	DCS9 – Emerging Adjuvant Therapies in Type 1 Diabetes (& LADA)	Melissa-Rosina Pasqua Alanna Weisman Nadine Taleb Sonia Butalia
19:00	SPECIAL EVENT Premiere of Low Priority (Sequel to Low)	👉 Register here to attend the Low Priority premiere

Friday November 28th, 2025

Time	Session	Speakers
10:30 – 11:45	DCS10 – Compassion in Practice: Supporting Clients Through Diabetes Distress and Mental Health Challenges	Jessica Kitchler Ciara Stevens Sarah Moore-Vasram Sonja M. Reichert
11:55 – 12:15	CC08 – Obesity Treatment in Motion: Navigating Decision Points Together	Satya Dash
13:00 – 14:14	AS04 – Practicalities of screening for kidney disease in diabetes	Sheldon W. Tobe Rick Ward Jo-Anne Wilson Christopher Tran Calvin Ke
14:30 – 15:45	DCS14 – Complications of Diabetes	Pedro Geraldes Vaibhav Patel Joan Krepinsky Jacqueline Beaudry
16:00 – 17:15	DCS15 – Beyond Basics: Further Topics in Diabetes Technology	Alanna Weisman Michael C. Riddell Rémi Rabasa-Lhoret Bikrampal Sidhu

Saturday November 29th, 2025

Time	Session	Speakers
9:15 – 10:30	AS05 – Transforming Type 1 Diabetes: Strategies for early detection and delay onset therapeutics	Peter Lin Peter Senior Susie Jin Elizabeth Rosowlowsky
10:45 – 12:00	DCS19 – Type 2 Diabetes Remission – Evidence, Impact, and Future Directions	Megan Racey Diana Sherifali Brian McKenna Mark Ewer Lindsay Sawatsky Sonja M. Reichert
13:00 – 14:15	ORAL ABSTRACT: DCO3 – Economic Analysis and Return on investment (ROI) for Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) Screening and Treatment through Diabetes Eye Screening Program (DESP) among uninsured patient populations living with diabetes and seeking care	Aleksandra Stanimirovic

On September 25, 2025, Diabetes Action Canada (DAC) hosted its third Network Action Session, bringing together researchers, Patient Partners, community leaders, and trainees from across the country. These sessions are designed to spark conversation, share knowledge, and identify ways to move patient-oriented research in diabetes forward.

Spotlight on Islet and Stem Cell Therapy

A highlight of the session was a presentation by Dr. Peter Senior, who shared his expertise on the future of islet and stem cell therapy. While islet cell transplants offer the promise of eliminating the need for insulin in people with type 1 diabetes, challenges such as donor shortages and immune rejection remain. Dr. Senior underscored the importance of pairing scientific advances with the lived experiences of those directly impacted, reminding us that research must remain connected to patient priorities.

📺 Missed the session? Watch the full recording here

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Featured Resources & Initiatives

• DAC 2024 Collaborators Report
  Highlights include the Research to Action Fellowship, Diabetes Research Connect, research impact in Diabetic Retinopathy Screening (DRS) and Lower Limb Preservation (LLP), and the DAC Workshop.
  👉 Read the report
• New Article in Diabetologia
  Linxi Mytkolli, DAC’s Director of Patient Engagement, is the lead author of “Diabetes in four dialects: a global call for equity across lived, loved, learned and laboured experiences,” introducing DAC’s 4Ls framework.
  👉 Read the article
• Sustaining Momentum to Implement the Diabetes Framework
  Developed in partnership with Diabetes Canada and CIHR INMD, this report identifies future diabetes research priorities and emphasizes the need to embed equity, data/registries, community care, and knowledge mobilization tools into the work ahead.
  👉 Read the Grey Paper
• New Publications from DAC Researchers
  • Type 2 Diabetes Remission: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Nonsurgical Randomized Controlled Trials (Lead: Dr. Diana Sherifali) 👉 Read more
  • Automated Insulin Delivery Systems and Glucose Management in Children and Adolescents With Type 1 Diabetes (Lead: Dr. Jon McGavock) 👉 Read more
  • Feasibility of a Co-designed Technology-enabled Collaborative Care Program for Young Adults With Type 1 Diabetes and Diabetes Distress: A Protocol (Lead: Dr. Carly Whitmore) 👉 Read more

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Welcoming a New Team Member

DAC is pleased to welcome Elise Kammerer as Project Lead for the Connect1d Canada platform. Based at the Alberta Diabetes Institute, Elise brings a strong background in implementation science, knowledge mobilization, and co-designing research with people with lived experience. Her work has focused on improving care for children with medical complexity and advancing equity in research and practice.

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Upcoming Events

• DAC Breakfast at the Diabetes Canada Conference (for those already going to the conference)
  🗓 November 27, 2025 | ⏰ 7:30 AM
  👉 Register here
• Next DAC Network Action Session
  January 2026 (exact date and time TBD)

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Stay Connected

• Follow DAC on LinkedIn
• Visit our website

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✨ DAC thanks all members and partners who continue to make these sessions a space for learning, connection, and collective action. We look forward to building on this momentum in 2026.

For people living with type 2 diabetes (T2D), conversations about management and remission can be complex and at times carry feelings of shame or stigma. Research studies often use very strict protocols and narrowly selected participants, making it hard to see how results translate into real life.

A new systematic review and meta-analysis, recently published in Diabetes Care, helps shed light on what T2D remission really means and how it can be achieved. This is the first study of its kind to evaluate both pharmacological (medication-based) and non-pharmacological (behaviour-based) approaches across 18 randomized controlled trials in 11 countries.

👉 Read paper here

What is T2D Remission?

Remission in T2D means that blood glucose levels return to the normal range without the need for diabetes medication. While this does not mean “cure,” it can significantly improve health outcomes and quality of life.

What Did the Research Find?

• People were more likely to achieve T2D remission with multi-modal approaches, combining strategies such as medication, nutrition, physical activity, and health coaching.
• Behavioural interventions, primarily focused on low calorie diets, showed the strongest results, with significantly higher T2D remission rates compared to standard care.
• Additional benefits included improved A1C, weight loss, reduced hypoglycemia, and better quality of life.

Still, challenges remain: studies varied widely in design, used strict eligibility criteria, and often applied inconsistent definitions of T2D remission. This makes it difficult to know how well these findings apply across diverse populations.

Beyond the Numbers: Knowledge Products Co-Designed with Patients

At Diabetes Action Canada, we believe research should not stop at publication—it must be translated into resources that people can understand and use. This work was led by Dr. Diana Sherifali and her team, who brought together an integrated Knowledge Translation (iKT) group to ensure the research was informed by diverse perspectives. Diabetes Action Canada was invited to join this team, contributing alongside patient partners, researchers, healthcare professionals, and decision-makers to help shape resources grounded in lived and living experience.

Together with our partners at Knowing Diabetes—a hub for trusted information, research opportunities, and expert insights—we’ve developed three key knowledge products:

1. Graphic Novel
   A powerful story following one woman’s journey with newly diagnosed T2D, capturing the emotions, challenges, and successes of striving for T2D remission.
   👉 Read the graphic novel
2. Two-Part Video Series: “Evidence-Based Takes”
   Short, accessible videos narrated by Dr. Megan Racey, breaking down what the research means and sharing helpful messages for people considering T2D remission.
   👉 Watch Part 1
   👉 Watch Part 2
3. Blog Post
   A plain-language reflection on what T2D remission research tells us—and why it matters for people living with diabetes.
   👉 Read the blog

Why This Matters

These tools are designed to increase awareness, promote dialogue, and support informed decision-making around T2D remission. By making the evidence more accessible, we hope to encourage future research that not only tests T2D remission programs, but also considers their long-term sustainability and alignment with patient priorities.

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✅ Explore more at Knowing Diabetes and share these resources with your community. Together, we can reduce stigma, spark conversation, and support people living with type 2 diabetes in exploring their options for T2D remission.

Diabetes Action Canada is proud to have partnered with Diabetes Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes (CIHR INMD) in planning the 2025 Diabetes Research Workshop, which brought together leading researchers, policymakers, and patient partners from across the country. The findings are captured in a new report, Sustaining Momentum to Implement the Diabetes Framework: Diabetes Research Workshop. (Grey Paper 2025).

Turning Research into Action

The Grey Paper makes one point clear: world-class diabetes research must be mobilized into policy and practice if it is to improve health outcomes for the more than four million Canadians living with diabetes. Despite decades of discovery, major gaps remain in access, equity, and integration of proven approaches into health systems.

At the workshop, participants identified priority areas where knowledge mobilization and patient partnership are essential:

• Equity in care – Targeting interventions at the intersection of diabetes, social determinants, obesity, and cardiometabolic disease yields the highest return on investment.
• Surveillance and data – Canada needs better diabetes registries and integrated social data to guide policy decisions. Models such as CanScreen T1D, BETTER, CAPACITY, and Connect1d Canada already demonstrate how registries can improve care.
• Health services and policy research – Evaluating new care models in primary and community settings is critical to reaching structurally underserved populations.
• Knowledge mobilization tools – Researchers need support to communicate evidence effectively to policymakers. The Grey Paper highlights that CIHR INMD has adopted DAC’s KM consultation service and tools as a national model.

Why It Matters

The report underscores that without coordinated action, Canada risks worsening inequities and rising costs. For example:

• Diabetes costs the health system $18 billion annually.
• Only ~40% of underserved Ontarians receive retinopathy screening, despite it being a proven intervention to prevent blindness.
• Lower-limb amputations have risen in Ontario’s diabetes population over the past decade, even as stroke and heart attack rates have fallen.
• Out-of-pocket costs can reach $18,300 per year for type 1 diabetes, forcing many to skip or delay treatment.

Diabetes Action Canada’s Role

For Diabetes Action Canada, the Grey Paper is a strong validation of our mission: ensuring that diabetes research is not only excellent but also translated into policy and practice. Through our Knowledge Mobilization program, national registries and data initiatives, and patient-partnered research, we are building the bridge between discovery and real-world impact.

This report is both a roadmap and a call to action: to work together across sectors so that every person in Canada has access to prevention, treatment, and support that is timely, equitable, and evidence-based.

👉 Read the full Grey Paper here

We are proud to share that Linxi Mytkolli, Director of Patient Engagement at Diabetes Action Canada, is the lead author of a new article published in Diabetologia: “Diabetes in four dialects: a global call for equity across lived, loved, learned and laboured experiences.”

The 4Ls framework—Lived, Loved, Learned, and Laboured—has been the foundation of Diabetes Action Canada’s approach to patient engagement. It recognizes that expertise in diabetes is not limited to clinical or academic settings. Instead, it is shaped by:

• Lived: the daily experiences of people living with diabetes
• Loved: the support of family, friends, and caregivers
• Learned: the knowledge of researchers and academics
• Laboured: the work of healthcare providers, policymakers, and advocates

By bringing these four perspectives together, the framework ensures that diabetes research and care reflect the realities of all those affected.

Why this matters

Patient advocates rarely appear in leading scientific journals, let alone collectively across 15 countries as in this article. Publishing in Diabetologia shows what is possible when science makes space for diverse voices and creates opportunities to mobilize this expertise nationally and internationally.

📖 Read the full article here