I am a person that wants to look back on my life and know I have made a difference to healthcare. I grew up in Colorado as the son of a carpenter and a paraeducator. As a carpenter my dad taught me the value of hard work and how to be technical so that the work I completed was top notch. My mom worked in an elementary school health room and helped to instill in me the need to care for everyone and make sure all got their fair time when sick. She also is a type 1 diabetic so I learned from a young age what it means to struggle with a chronic disease that can at time be debilitating. I slowly grew into a love of science and decided to pursue an initial BS degree in Chemistry followed by a MS degree in biochemistry. It was during this period that I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes myself and now found myself in the same position as my mother. I learned first hand what it means to have to always wonder about your health but I also learned how to manage it properly in conjunction with my daily life. After graduate school I went to work for a diabetes research group where I helped to develop a drug useful for diabetes management in a new technology called an artificial pancreas. This drug (glucagon) works opposite of insulin by telling the body to raise blood sugar when too low. I received a patent for this drug in 2016 after having published several papers on the subject. After that position, I have moved on to study the structure of various components related to diabetes and cancer as well as other diseases at the molecular level. This has given me the understanding of disease at the most minute level and I have decided to enter into nursing so I can now be on the healthcare side of disease. I will be able to help those in need to get better and use my technical training to guide them in proper care of themselves. I also hope to guide future nurses by teaching them the molecular basis of disease.

Essay: Artificial pancreas

I am very excited for the artificial pancreas. This is a device that will be important in helping type 1 diabetics or insulin dependent type 2 diabetics. Persons afflicted with both diseases have abnormal pancreas tissue that disrupts the normal sugar processing of the body. Insulin is the main hormone we always hear about, in a normal person it tells the cells of the body to ingest blood sugar so it can be used to power the cell. In a non-diabetic person glucagon is released when blood sugar is too low, either through a prolonged period without food or under intense exercise. Glucagon tells your body to release its stored sugar into the bloodstream so the rest of the body can use it for fuel. In an insulin dependent diabetic person, the homeostasis of the pancreas is destroyed and the regulation of both hormones is out of whack. Current technology for insulin management consists of an insulin pump and a blood sugar glucose meter. One checks their blood sugar using the meter then determines how much insulin to take. The insulin pump stores insulin in a reservoir and continuously infuses a small amount of insulin as a low level (basal rate) and will also infuse a larger amount of insulin over a small time (bolus shot) when the user tells it to based upon the meter readings. An artificial pancreas will have two additional components and a modification of one other. The insulin pump portion will essentially stay the same but the glucose meter will be a continuous subcutaneous probe inserted under the skin. This is technology that is already available but will be standard in this system. The additional components will be a glucagon pump and a control algorithm/device. The glucagon pump will deliver a low level basal rate of glucagon to counteract insulin and a higher amount of bolus glucagon if the blood sugar greatly starts to drop. The control algorithm/device will bring together the glucose meter readings, insulin rate, and glucagon rate as well as take into account exercise, boluses recently taken, food eaten, and other more dynamic factors such as the interplay of glucagon and insulin. This device should allow a person that is dependent on insulin the ability to live relatively worry free. We will be allowed to exercise without worry of hypoglycemia and eat without worry of hyperglycemia. It will be a huge breakthrough in diabetes therapy and it is coming around the corner. Currently it is in clinical trials but will hopefully be into the public domain within 5-10 years. I personally know the hassle of checking my blood sugar constantly and having to be sure that I took the proper amount of insulin. I always need to ensure that I have eaten enough and that I am ok to sleep overnight without having to worry about lows. I look forward to this device so I can be free!