UMass Diabetes Center of Excellence

01/27/2026

We’re proud to recognize Elizabeth Lartey, BSN, RN, a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) student in the UMass Chan Medical School Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing (Class of ’27), for her leadership and impact addressing diabetes and hypertension in underserved Ghanaian communities in Worcester and rural Ghana.

Lizzy was recognized by Dean Flotte for a project that provides free, self-funded health screenings paired with culturally responsive education. By partnering with local churches and community leaders, her work brings preventive care and trusted health information directly to communities facing barriers to access—strengthening early detection, health literacy, and trust.

A medical-surgical nurse at UMass Memorial, she is also the founder of Heritage Scrubs, a fashion line she launched featuring African-inspired designs. What began as custom scrubs she wore to work quickly grew after patients and colleagues took notice—reflecting her belief that culturally relevant care can deepen patient connection.

Originally from Ghana, Elizabeth immigrated to Worcester in 2012 and has balanced nursing school, work, marriage, and raising a family along the way. She is a proud mother of four. Since 2018, she has organized free health education and screenings through churches and community groups in both Worcester and Ghana and continues to mentor nursing students and new nurses.

👏 Congratulations, Lizzy, on this well-deserved recognition!

Photo credit: Hallie Leo

01/26/2026

Congratulations to Dr. Tammy Nguyen on receiving the UMass Chan Medical School Chancellor’s Award for Mission-Aligned Community Impact.

Through the UMass Diabetes Foot Screening & Health Clinic, Dr. Nguyen has helped bring accessible, preventive care directly to underserved and homeless communities across Central Massachusetts—combining clinical care, education, and compassion to prevent diabetes-related complications.

https://www.umassmed.edu/dcoe/news/diabetic-outreach-clinics

A well-deserved honor for a special human being!

01/24/2026

A milestone in diabetes & medical history! https://www.umassmed.edu/dcoe/diabetes-education/patient-resources/first-insulin-injection

Insulin is NOT a cure. https://www.umassmed.edu/dcoe/diabetes-research

01/23/2026

01/22/2026

Dominic Quagliozzi developed insulin-dependent diabetes following a double lung transplant in 2015. An artist by trade, Dominic first caught the attention of a UMass Memorial Health diabetes nurse practitioner who entered the room for his appointment and saw a sketch on the exam table paper (see images).

Dominic has been in and out of hospitals and doctors’ offices his entire life. Much of his artwork focuses on the interactions he has had with the healthcare system and his experiences dealing with a chronic illness. He uses hospital materials to create art that shows people what he's going through and educates them.

Dominic created a business suit from hospital gowns he wore while in a coma before his transplant. He wears the suit when he speaks at medical conferences. “I use my art as a visual tool to discuss patient experience, empathy, and other related topics.” He also created a flag from hospital gowns he's worn.

Prior to using a continuous glucose monitor, Dominic would check his blood sugar with finger sticks. Instead of clotting the blood on this finger with gauze or cotton, he used drawing paper. He created works of art using those blotches, with the blood sugars written below each.

His latest project created replica sports jerseys using hospital gowns, surgical linens, and ace bandages, "materials that have shaped much of my life." He drew and painted directly on the hospital gowns using colored pencils and graphite, allowing the original patterns to peek through.

Tony Conigliaro joined the Boston Red Sox in 1964 as a 19-year-old and quickly became one of the league’s most exciting young hitters, leading the American League in home runs by age 20. In 1967, he was hit in the eye with a fastball, leading to partial blindness, which threatened his career. Though he made a courageous comeback, he was never quite the same. His injury remains one of baseball’s most heartbreaking “what ifs."

"Since I was sick so often as a kid, my relationship to sports was through art rather than being able to actually play. So this project was really fun for me to explore that and sort of get back to my roots as a kid making art about my favorite athletes."

Cam Neely was a dominant right winger for the Boston Bruins who sustained a serious knee injury during the 1991 Stanley Cup Playoffs. By 1993, recurring knee issues and developing arthritis severely limited his ability to play. Despite undergoing multiple surgeries and attempting comebacks, Neely was never the same. He played only 162 games over his final five seasons before retiring in 1996.

Reggie Lewis was a rising star for the Boston Celtics in the early 1990s, a two-time All-Star and team captain known for his smooth scoring and leadership as the franchise’s post-Larry Bird centerpiece. He died suddenly at age 27 in 1993 after collapsing during an offseason practice, the result of sudden cardiac death linked to an underlying heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy that often goes undetected.

While the lung transplant left him with diabetes, failing kidneys, and liver problems, Dominic has no regrets. “It’s given me more than a decade of additional years during which we had a son, and my quality of life is much better.”

01/22/2026

Alejandra Rivera Nieves, a graduate student in the laboratory of Accalia Fu, PhD, presented findings from two research projects she has been working on at the UMass Diabetes Center of Excellence. Her talk to faculty, researchers, and fellow students in the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program at UMass Chan Medical School began with a discussion of a research paper she is the lead author on, currently under review for publication, followed by an overview of her doctoral thesis project.

Alejandra’s research focuses on what happens inside the pancreas when cells encounter glucose. While diabetes is often discussed in terms of blood sugar levels, her work focuses on what happens inside insulin-producing beta cells themselves, aiming to understand how these cells respond to glucose under normal, healthy conditions.

Much of what scientists currently know about beta cells comes from studies that exposed them to very high glucose levels for long periods. Alejandra’s work in the Fu lab takes a different approach, examining how beta cells respond to normal, short-term changes in glucose levels—similar to those that occur after a meal. Their findings suggest that glucose does more than trigger insulin release; it also activates internal processes that help beta cells produce energy, stay healthy, and function properly.

Her thesis project builds on this work by examining , immune cells that live alongside beta cells in the . In , these immune cells can become chronically inflamed, contributing to beta cell damage and loss. Alejandra’s research explores how changes in the pancreas's metabolic environment may influence immune cell behavior, potentially creating a cycle that worsens inflammation and beta-cell dysfunction.

01/19/2026

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01/14/2026

Drs. Roger Davis & Myoung Soon Han collaborated on a newly published study to understand how pancreatic beta cells respond to incretin hormones — a cornerstone of many current diabetes treatments. It identified the enzyme JNK3, a member of the c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) family, as a critical regulator of beta cell function and survival, with implications for enhancing therapies that target the GLP-1 receptor.

JNK signaling was originally discovered and molecularly defined through the pioneering work of Dr. Davis, whose research established JNK as a key stress-responsive pathway implicated in inflammation, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.

Building on this foundational biology, the new study revealed that JNK3 is not merely a stress signal, but a critical regulator of how insulin-producing beta cells respond to incretin hormones such as GLP-1.

Incretin-based therapies are widely used in to stimulate insulin secretion and support beta cell health, yet patient responses vary.

Dr. Han’s laboratory is investigating how beta cells adapt—or fail—under metabolic stress. Her work has shown how obesity, insulin resistance, and inflammatory signaling pathways shape beta cell survival, compensatory growth, and long-term function. This study connects those concepts directly to incretin action, identifying JNK3 as a molecular bridge between metabolic stress signaling and beta cell resilience.

This work reinforces the idea that beta cells don’t simply ‘respond’ to diabetes drugs in isolation. Their ability to benefit from therapy depends on internal stress-response pathways shaped by metabolism and inflammation.

Targeting JNK3 or related signaling nodes could represent a future strategy to enhance incretin efficacy, preserve beta cell function, and slow diabetes progression.

01/13/2026

🌞 Summer Camp Registration is OPEN!
We’re offering a First-Time Camper Scholarship that covers a one-week overnight session at Clara Barton Camp or Camp Joslin — families only pay the $50 registration fee.
This is an incredible way for children with Type 1 diabetes to experience camp, build confidence, and make lifelong friends. 💙
👉 Register today!

01/12/2026

Today is National Pharmacists Day, and we want to recognize the incredible Specialty Pharmacy liaisons who help our patients at UMass Memorial to navigate insurance hurdles, secure medications & devices, manage refills, and understand how to use their therapies safely & effectively. They work hand-in-hand with our care team to answer questions and avoid delays.

Their behind-the-scenes work often removes stress at moments when people need support the most. Thank you to our for your expertise, advocacy, and commitment to patient care! 💙

01/06/2026

Benjamin Clayton, a PhD student in the laboratory of Dr. David Guertin, co-authored a Year in Review article in Nature Reviews Endocrinology that highlights the excitement surrounding brown adipose tissue (brown fat).

Brown adipose tissue is heat-generating and a promising therapeutic target for obesity and metabolic diseases. While we all have plenty of fat that stores energy, brown fat does the opposite: it burns fuel to create heat. In adults, greater brown fat activity is associated with better metabolic health. As we age or gain weight, brown fat activity tends to decline, which may contribute to chronic disease.

Clayton and Dr. Guertin review discoveries that reinforce why brown adipose tissue “remains hot” as a research focus. For people living with or who are at risk for , understanding how to preserve or boost this natural heat-burning fat could potentially open the door to new, metabolism-friendly therapies that turn the body’s own biology into part of the solution.

12/30/2025

Jessica Spinelli, PhD, was named to the Medical Institute Scholars Program, recognizing 30 early-career scientists nationwide with exceptional promise and commitment to advancing inclusion in science.

The Spinelli lab focuses on how cells sense and adapt to metabolic stress and on studying mitochondrial function under healthy and diseased conditions. They’ve identified a groundbreaking mechanism involving a molecule called rhodoquinone (RQ) that enables mitochondria to keep producing energy when oxygen is limited. This discovery could lead to improved treatments for heart attacks, strokes, and other oxygen-deprived conditions, including islet transplantation therapies!

The Brehm and Spinelli labs at UMass Chan Medical School are collaborating to protect stem cell-derived (SC) insulin-producing beta cells. These transplanted islet cells often face oxygen shortages after transplantation, leading to mitochondrial dysfunction. PhD student Nicolai Hathiramani leads the project to reprogram mitochondrial pathways before transplantation to make the SC islets more resilient to hypoxia.

Early results have shown promise!