Author: Tracy McQuire

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

Thursday November 27th, 2025

Friday November 28th, 2025

Saturday November 29th, 2025

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

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

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.

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)

Stay Connected

• Follow DAC on LinkedIn
• Visit our website

✨ 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.

✅ 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

Young adults with type 1 diabetes (T1D) face daily self-management challenges that go far beyond blood sugar levels. Mental health struggles (including diabetes distress (DD)) are common, yet care systems often fail to address the emotional and psychological realities of living with diabetes. A new pilot study is changing that.

The TECC-T1D3 trial, supported by Diabetes Action Canada and co-designed by young adults with lived experience, is testing a virtual, technology-enabled collaborative care model tailored to the needs of young adults navigating life with T1D and DD.

Here are three key elements of this innovative project:

1. Mental health is diabetes care—especially for young adults

The protocol aims to address a critical gap in care: traditional diabetes services often prioritize glycemic outcomes over emotional well-being. Yet nearly 40% of people with T1D experience diabetes distress, which can impact self-management, mental health, and long-term outcomes. TECC-T1D3 has been co-designed to offer a more holistic model, centering emotional support as part of everyday diabetes care.

2. Co-designed, patient-led solutions are needed

TECC-T1D3 was co-developed with young adults living with T1D, whose insights shaped everything from intervention design, the content, to the recruitment strategy. As a result, the intervention is delivered virtually through a health coach, supported by a virtual care team, and uses everyday technologies like phone calls and text messaging to reduce cognitive burden. Most importantly, TECC-T1D3 has been designed to prioritize trust, flexibility, and connection—values identified by patient partners as essential to success.

3. Scalable and compassionate care is possible

Unlike many mental health interventions that rely on specialized personnel or proprietary technology, TECC-T1D3 has been intentionally designed for scalability. Health coaches are selected based on relational skills rather than clinical credentials, making it possible to scale the model across diverse communities while maintaining personalized, culturally responsive support.

As the trial progresses, findings will inform the next stage of implementation—laying the foundation for broader, patient-informed mental health support in diabetes care across Canada.

Learn More
Read the full TECC-T1D3 protocol, published in Digital Health: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20552076251365134

Diabetes Action Canada is proud to support this important work and the patient partners whose leadership is transforming how care is delivered.