WHO WE ARE

MISSION

The Behavioral Diabetes Institute (BDI) is dedicated to helping people with diabetes live long, healthy and happy lives. While diabetes can wreak terrible harm, recent scientific evidence indicates that most long-term complications can be delayed or prevented when there is appropriate medical care and active self-management. Unfortunately, this can be tough, since living well with diabetes takes time, knowledge, and effort. Many people become overwhelmed, frustrated, or “burned out” by the daily difficulties of diabetes and by the unending, often burdensome self-care demands, potentially leading to anger, guilt, depression, fear, feelings of hopelessness. This can often lead to stresses and strains on personal relationships.

Addressing these real-life emotional aspects of diabetes is critical for long-term success, yet often they are given little attention in common medical practice. The BDI was created to help people better identify, understand, and tackle these problems.

A VERY BRIEF HISTORY OF BDI

The Behavioral Diabetes Institute (BDI) was created as an educational non-profit organization to better recognize, understand, and tackle the real-life emotional challenges of diabetes. To accomplish these tasks, the BDI provides direct clinical services for people with diabetes (e.g., diabetes-specific psychological support programs and behaviorally-based education and training in diabetes self-management) and professional services for health care professionals (e.g., training programs in behavioral diabetes interventions), while also conducting studies to elucidate the key behavioral contributors to successful diabetes management.

Since BDI’s founding in 2003, several thousand people with diabetes and their loved ones have participated in our in-person programs in San Diego. Currently, BDI offers a variety of very low cost group classes and one-day workshops that address: depression, eating disorders, life with complications, parenting challenges and struggles with control, and diabetes “burnout”. In addition, BDI has reached over 250,000 people with diabetes and their loved ones through its written publications and online resources.

BDI has held more than a dozen in-person trainings for healthcare professionals on emotional/ behavioral aspects of diabetes. Many of these trainings were video recorded and are available at no charge on the BDI website. The three, part-time clinical psychologists at BDI are also committed to educating outside healthcare professionals on the emotional aspects of diabetes and are frequently invited speakers around the globe. In addition, through the research arm of the BDI, we have completed a series of major studies on the emotional aspects of diabetes that have led to more than a dozen scientific publications.

Financially, BDI has been largely self-sustaining by raising operating funds through the sale and licensing of our 5 written tools. In developing global partnerships, BDI publications have been licensed around the world, reaching patients across North America, the European Union, Southeast Asia, Australia and the Middle East.

FUNDING

To date, funding for BDI operations has come from revenue generated by licensing of print materials and individual donations.

To support the design, development, and provision of its products and services to the diabetes community, BDI seeks operating revenue from the following sources:

  • Donations from individuals and organizations
  • Licensing of print materials
  • Fees for services
  • Grants for specific projects or operating support

STAFF

William Polonsky

President

William Polonsky

Dr. Bill Polonsky is Associate Clinical Professor in Psychiatry at the University of California San Diego. He received his PhD in clinical psychology from Yale University and has served as Senior Psychologist at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, faculty member at Harvard Medical School and Chairman of the National Certification Board for Diabetes Educators.

A licensed clinical psychologist and certified diabetes educator, Dr. Polonsky is a distinguished national and international lecturer on behavior diabetes issues. An active researcher in the field of behavioral diabetes, he has served on the editorial boards of Diabetes Care, Diabetes Forecast, Clinical Diabetes, Diabetes Self-Management and Diabetes Health. His most recent research projects have focused on quality of life in diabetes, diabetes-related distress and depression, hypoglycemic fear, blood glucose monitoring behavior and attitudes in people living with diabetes, physician and lay attitudes towards insulin and oral medications, group-based behavior change programs, the influence of continuous glucose monitoring on quality of life, and emotional and behavioral responses to the diagnosis of diabetes.

In addition to his many diabetes-related professional publications, he has authored several books for the lay audience (e.g., Diabetes Burnout: What to Do When You Can’t Take it Anymore) and co-edited several others for health care professionals (e.g., A CORE Curriculum for Diabetes Education).

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Susan Guzman

Director of Clinical Education

Lawrence Fisher

Research Director

Martin Lafontaine

Global Director of Licensing

Tawny Jennings

Tawny-Jennings

Office Manager

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Brian Haubenstock

Chairman

David Price

Director

William Polonsky

Director

Susan Guzman

Director

Susan Guzman

Dr. Susan Guzman, Phd, is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in diabetes, both as a researcher as well as a clinician. As the Director of BDI Clinical Services, she developed and leads the multi-week depression series, “Feeling Good Again: Breaking the Depression/Diabetes Connection”. She was the project coordinator for BDI’s Behavioral and Emotional Attitudes towards Diabetes (BEAD) study, which investigated the impact of type 2 diabetes following diagnosis, and has previously been involved in studies examining family-based interventions in diabetes as well as psychological insulin resistance. Her clinical interests include overcoming barriers to good management, family issues with diabetes, and the art of living well with diabetes.

Dr. Guzman has previously served as the psychological liaison to Scripps Health’s Diabetes Advisory Committee and team psychologist for the Healing Hearts Program at Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine, a comprehensive lifestyle change program for people with heart disease. Dr. Guzman is co-founder of BDI, and currently serves as Director of Clinical/Educational Services at BDI.

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Michael Mehringer

Treasurer

Michael Mehringer

Michael Mehringer became Director of Marketing for GenMark Diagnostics in May, 2014.  His primary responsibility is leading the global commercialization effort for their next generation molecular diagnostics testing platform.  Prior to that he led the infectious disease business segment at Hologic (formerly Gen-Probe), and spent 12 years at Roche Diagnostics in various sales and marketing leadership roles.  The majority of his time at Roche focused on improving the lives of people with diabetes by providing innovative products and services to many of the stakeholders involved in managing diabetes.  Michael holds an undergraduate degree in Biology from the State University of New York, College at Brockport, and a Masters in Business Administration from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.
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