Thirty Years of Diabetes Care: Reflections on the Beginning
- Jay S. Skyler, MD
- From the Diabetes Research Institute, University of Miami, Miami, Florida
- Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Jay Skyler, Diabetes Research Institute, University of Miami, 1450 NW 10th Ave., Room 3054, Miami, Florida 33136. E-mail: jskyler{at}miami.edu
The 1970s saw an explosion of clinical research in diabetes. In that decade the following was introduced: highly purified insulin, U-100 insulin, basal-bolus insulin therapy, self-monitoring of blood glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin measurement, insulin pumps, laser photocoagulation, pancreas transplantation, the concept of specialized diabetes educators, and diabetes management teams. In 1975, the National Commission on Diabetes (1) was convened, and its report led to a marked expansion of National Institutes of Health–supported diabetes research, including the creation of Diabetes Centers. In response to these burgeoning advances, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) questioned whether its existing scientific journal Diabetes was adequately answering the needs of clinical investigators and clinicians caring for patients with diabetes.
To study the question, ADA created an ad hoc committee under the chairmanship of T. Franklin Williams. The committee concluded that, indeed, a second journal with a more clinical focus was needed. Several potential plans were considered. In the end, the committee chose to launch a peer-reviewed journal focusing on clinical research. Although some thought a review journal might better serve the needs of clinicians, the need for a peer-reviewed journal was felt to be sufficiently high that that plan won out. Nonetheless, some, led by ADA President Donnell Etzwiler, questioned whether there was enough high-quality diabetes clinical research to warrant a whole journal. That group wondered whether the focus should be broadened to health care in general, with diabetes as a model.
Indeed, the original working name of the journal was to be Diabetes Health Care so that it could include both diabetes and general health care articles. Others, led by President-Elect George Cahill, argued that that was too diffuse and the journal should maintain its diabetes focus. Clinical Diabetes or Diabetes—Clinical were proposed as titles. Both were vetoed by the then Editor of Diabetes …
