On the Shoulders of Giants

Abstract

I would like to start my remarks by thanking the American Diabetes Association for selecting me for this special recognition. I am deeply honored. I want to explain the title of my talk. Once, when Sir Isaac Newton was being given an award, the person introducing him suggested that he had seen “further than others” in the field of science. To this Newton replied, “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Now trust me, I am not trying to compare myself to Sir Isaac Newton. But I do appreciate what he was trying to say; the reason that I am here today is ostensibly for recognition of my achievements in diabetes education. But my accomplishments are, in part, because of what I have learned from so many others, some who have stood here before me and many others who deserve to be recognized as I am today. So this morning, I want to tell you a bit of my story and how so many people have helped to shape my experience, influenced what I chose to do with my life, and taught me to see farther than perhaps I would have by myself. My story begins with my own discovery of type 1 diabetes. In 1977, while I was in graduate school at the University of California, Irvine, I had a weekend job in a hardware store. One day, during a break, a group of us employees were talking in the break room. The cashier, Patty, pulled out a bottle of ketodiastix. Being the inquisitive boy that I was, I asked what they were. She explained that she was a “juvenile diabetic,” and she used these to test her control. Remember, this was 1977; “type 1” wasn't a term, and home glucose meters …