Keynote Speakers

Dr. Katz is recognized globally for expertise in nutrition, weight management and the prevention of chronic disease. He has delivered addresses in numerous countries on four continents, and has been acclaimed by colleagues as the “poet laureate” of health promotion.

Join your fellow members to hear AADE President Nancy D’Hondt share her thoughts on the state of AADE and members’ contribution to diabetes education.

Dr. Alison Ledgerwood is a behavioral scientist and Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Davis. She received her PhD in social psychology from New York University in 2008. Her research focuses on the science of how humans think as well as how to improve people’s reasoning and decision-making. She has received funding for her research from the National Science Foundation and the Hellman Family Foundation, and her TEDx talk on negativity bias has been viewed nearly one million times.

With more than 20 years of experience in diabetes, Mr. Bergstrom has a passion for leveraging technology to decentralize and transform healthcare. In his current role, he advises the leadership teams of payers, providers, medical device, and pharmaceutical companies. He also spends time helping start-ups and advocacy organizations navigate digital health opportunities.

Led by Virginia Valentine, hot topics in diabetes will be the focus of a panel discussion with industry leaders.

Prior to her post at CDC, she served as Chief, California Diabetes Program for the California Department of Health Services. During this time, she held an academic appointment in the Institute for Health and Aging at University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Albright has also served as the Senior Health Policy Advisor in the Office of the US Surgeon General. She is published in areas of exercise, nutrition, body composition, diabetic nephropathy, care among Medicaid recipients with T2 Diabetes, and public health practice in diabetes prevention and control.

Kelly L. Close is the founder and Chair of the Board of The diaTribe Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives of people living with diabetes and prediabetes, and advocating for action. Since 2006, she has been the Editor-in-Chief of diaTribe, our free newsletter focused on making people with diabetes healthier and happier and advocating for action. She has also run Close Concerns since 2002, a healthcare information firm exclusively focused on diabetes and obesity. Kelly and her colleagues attend over 40 scientific, regulatory, and economic conferences globally focused on diabetes and obesity, read key medical literature in the field, and write regularly about 50-plus private and public companies and nonprofit organizations in the area. Kelly’s passion for diabetes comes from her extensive professional work as well as her personal experience living with diabetes for over 30 years.

David Weingard is an entrepreneur who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 36 and left Microsoft to found Fit4D. A veteran of numerous running and triathlon races, David committed to rebuilding his life and providing positive energy to the diabetes community, while coping with the condition on a 24/7 basis. He gradually learned how to successfully race with diabetes thanks to coaching from a Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE). David became one of the few people with Type 1 diabetes to complete an Ironman Triathlon leading to his being named a Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) “Hero”. As a JDRF Hero, David has traveled across the US, fundraising and speaking to people with diabetes to empower and give them hope. David’s experience receiving meaningful support from a CDE sparked the idea for Fit4D. For pharmaceutical companies with a branded diabetes drug or device, and payers/providers seeking to improve quality measures, Fit4D is a technology-enabled personalized health coaching solution that leverages intelligent care pathways to enable expert diabetes educators to increase their capacity to deliver care by 5x. Unlike apps or call centers, Fit4D optimizes the mix between technology and clinicians to improve treatment adherence and health outcomes in an affordable manner.