The Diabetes National Alliance Steering Committee

The role of the Steering Committee is to develop the curriculum and program materials for the Diabetes National Alliance. Get to know the distinguished members by reading their biographies below.

Steering Committee Chairman

Jay S. Skyler, MD, MACP

Jay S. Skyler, MD, MACP is Professor of Medicine, Pediatrics, and Psychology, in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine. He was Director of that Division from 2000 to 2004. He is Associate Director for Academic Programs in the Diabetes Research Institute, University of Miami. He was also Program Director of the University of Miami General Clinical Research Center from 2001 to 2006.

A native of Philadelphia, Dr. Skyler is a graduate of Penn State University and Jefferson Medical College, and did postgraduate training in internal medicine and in endocrinology and metabolism at Duke University Medical Center. He also was on the faculty at Duke, where he was Director of Diabetes and Nutrition Education and Medical Director of the Physician's Associate Program, and was named an Honorary Physician's Associate in recognition of distinguished teaching. He worked for two years at the Hypertension-Endocrine Branch (Section on Biochemical Pharmacology) of the National Heart and Lung Institute, National Institutes of Health, and joined the University of Miami in 1976.

Dr. Skyler is widely acclaimed for his algorithms for patient adjustment of insulin doses, for which he received the 1985 Achievement Award of the American Society of Contemporary Medicine and Surgery "for distinguished contributions to the knowledge of diabetes mellitus." Much of Dr. Skyler’s current research focus is in interdicting the type 1 diabetes disease process through immunoregulation. Beginning in the 1980s, he and his colleagues conducted some of the first research using cyclosporine as immune intervention, and demonstrated that this resulted in sustained beta-cell function. He currently is study chairman of its successor, the NIH Type 1 Diabetes TrialNet Clinical Trials Study Group. TrialNet is conducting a variety of intervention trials in both new-onset type 1 diabetes and in subjects at risk of the disease, as well as further defining the natural history of the disease and its pathophysiology.

Dr. Skyler was 50th national president of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) in 1991-92, and received the 1992 Banting Medal for Service to the ADA. He represented the ADA on the Council of Subspecialty Societies (CSS) of the American College of Physicians (ACP) for 6 years, and was Chair of the CSS for 1996-1999 and a member of the ACP Board of Regents. In recognition of his many contributions to medicine, he has been named a Master of the American College of Physicians (MACP), the highest level of fellowship, attained by very few.

Dr. Skyler was a member of the Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism (EDM) Subspecialty Examining Board of the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) (1986-1991), and was Chairman of the first ABIM Re-Certification Committee for EDM (1992-95). He was President of the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation for 1992-93, Vice-President of the International Diabetes Federation (1994-2000), and President of the International Diabetes Immunotherapy Group (1999-2001).

Dr. Skyler has been author, editor, or co-editor of 18 books or monographs, and has written over 300 articles, book chapters, or editorials. He also has edited 11 special journal symposia. He was founding Editor-in-Chief of the ADA professional journal, Diabetes Care, serving 5 years in that position (1978-1982), during which time Diabetes Care attained the highest circulation of any journal in the field of endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism, a position it still holds. Currently, he is Scientific Editor of International Diabetes Monitor (of which he was founding Scientific Editor), Associate Editor of Diabetes Technology and Therapeutics, and Advisory Editor of Diabetologia, a publication of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes.

Members

George E. Dailey, MD, FACE

George E. Dailey, MD, FACE, is Senior Consultant in the Division of Diabetes and Endocrinology and Head of Diabetes Research at Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, California. He is a clinical professor at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, and a Medical Director at the Whittier Institute for Diabetes. His research interests center on the treatment of diabetes and lipid disorders.

Dr. Dailey earned his medical degree from the University of Alabama Medical School in Birmingham, and completed an internship, residency, and advanced endocrinology training at UC San Diego. He received an NIH Individual Research Fellowship Award from Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

Dr. Dailey was a founding board member of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and founding director of the Scripps Clinic Diabetes Registry, which seeks to identify and intervene with patients at greatest risk for diabetes before complications can occur. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine, a fellow of the American College of Endocrinology and the American College of Physicians, and a member of the American Thyroid Association. Dr. Dailey was named a Master of the American College of Endocrinology (MACE) in April 2007.

Paresh Dandona, MBBS, DPhil

Dr. Dandona is Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York. He is also Director of the Diabetes-Endocrinology Center of Western New York in Buffalo. Previously, he served as Director of Diabetes and Metabolism at the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine at the University of London, England, for 14 years. He is a Rhodes Scholar from India, trained at the University of Oxford, England.

Dr. Dandona was President-Elect of the American Diabetes Association, New York Upstate Affiliate and is a recipient of the Valor Award of the American Diabetes Association for his contributions to the standards of care in diabetes and the establishment of a network of diabetes care in Western New York. He is the Principal Investigator on many research projects including those funded by the NIH, the pharmaceutical industry, and the State of Florida. He has published more than 430 papers in peer-reviewed medical journals and has presented lectures at many national and international conferences. He is the founding editor of Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders, is on the editorial board of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, Diabetes Care, and Current Diabetes Reviews.

Robert E. Jones, MD

Robert E. Jones, MD is Medical Director of the Utah Diabetes Center and Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Utah, which he joined following his retirement from the military in 1997. He has held clinical faculty appointments at the University of Washington and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Dr. Jones received his undergraduate degree from Utah State University and his MD from the University of Utah, received postgraduate training in internal medicine in San Francisco and Denver, and completed his fellowship in endocrinology at Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center.

Dr. Jones is board certified in internal medicine and in endocrinology, metabolism and diabetes, and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American College of Endocrinology. He works closely with state-sponsored initiatives to develop provider and patient diabetes education programs aimed at improving quality of care. He has authored over 90 articles, book chapters and abstracts, and has edited two textbooks on diabetes management.

Rattan Juneja, MBBS, MD, MRCP (UK)

Rattan Juneja, MBBS, MD, MRCP (UK), is currently Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine. Since 2000 he has also been Medical Director of the Indiana University Diabetes Center and Chief of Endocrinology at Wishard Hospital in Indianapolis.

Dr. Juneja received his Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery and MD degrees from B. J. Medical College, Pune, India. He completed residencies at the Tertiary Referral Center in Bombay, the Royal College of Physicians, Ireland, and the University of Washington, and held a fellowship in Endocrinology at the University of Washington from 1995 to 1997.

Dr. Juneja was appointed a Member of the Royal College of Physicians (UK) in 1993, and is board certified in internal medicine and endocrinology. He has been the principal investigator in more than 15 clinical studies in the area of diabetes, and is author or co-author of more than 25 articles in peer-reviewed publications.

Davida F. Kruger, MSN, APN-BC, BC-ADM

Davida F. Kruger, MSN, APN-BC, BC-ADM, has been a certified nurse practitioner in diabetes for the past 26 years at Henry Ford Medical Center in Detroit, Michigan. Her role includes both clinical practice and research. She is board certified by the American Nurses Association Credentialing Center in both Primary Care and Advanced Diabetes Management.

Ms. Kruger is past chair of the American Diabetes Association’s (ADA) Research Foundation, and a past president, Health Care and Education, of the ADA. She served as editor-in-chief of Diabetes Spectrum from 2005 to 2008.

Ms. Kruger has been a principal investigator on numerous research projects and has written widely on diabetes care, including the book The Diabetes Travel Guide, 2nd edition (2006). She has received the Florence Nightingale Award for Excellence in Research, ADA’s Rachmiel Levine Award for Distinguished Service, and ADA’s Award for Outstanding Service in Diabetes Research Funding.