The American Diabetes Association (ADA) is honored to welcome the 2019 Principal Officers and Board of Directors. The 18-member board is comprised of forward-thinking medical, scientific, education and executive professionals, who will strategically lead and focus efforts to ensure the ADA continues to be synonymous with excellence.

"The newest members of ADA’s National Board of Directors are respected and trusted leaders within their professions, and we are thankful they are willing to share their time and energy to help us bend the curve on the diabetes epidemic,” said Tracey D. Brown, Chief Executive Officer of the ADA. “We are truly grateful to our outgoing Principal Officers, Karen Talmadge, Felicia Hill-Briggs, Jane Reusch and Michael Ching, for their exemplary leadership, and know that they will remain connected for life.”

The Principal Officers of the Board of Directors who started their terms of service on January 1, 2019 are:

• David Herrick, MBA, Chair
  David Herrick is managing principal of EthicOne, a New York City-based brand consultancy that helps Fortune 1000 companies put ethics and values at the heart of their brands. Herrick has served on the National Board of the American Diabetes Association for three years, having served as chair of the Board Development Committee, chair of the Marketing & Communications Task Force, member of the Finance Committee and member of the Strategic Planning Task Force. He previously served as chair of the ADA’s Greater New York City Community Leadership Board and has been heavily involved as an organizer and participant in the ADA’s Tour de Cure events.

• Gretchen Youssef, MS, RD, CDE, President, Health Care & Education
  Gretchen Youssef is program director of the MedStar Diabetes Institute, MedStar Health. Youssef has volunteered with the ADA since 1992, serving as vice president of the Montgomery, Maryland chapter in 1994, chair of the Education Recognition Committee from 2008 to 2009, a member of the Professional Practice Committee and a member of the national Board of Directors from 2010 to 2012.

• Louis H. Philipson, MD, PhD, FACP, President, Medicine & Science
  Louis H. Philipson is director of the Kovler Diabetes Center and was named as the James C. Tyree Professor of Diabetes Research and Care in the Departments of Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Chicago. From 1996 to 1999 and again from 2008 to 2012, Dr. Philipson served on the editorial board of Diabetes, one of the ADA’s four scientific journals. He has volunteered with the ADA since 1997, served on the Community Leadership Board for Northern Illinois since 2008, as president of the Community Leadership Board since 2012, and previously as a member of the national Board of Directors from 2009 to 2012.

• Brian Bertha, JD, MBA, Secretary/Treasurer
  Brian Bertha is a senior adviser for the Health Information Technology Lab (HitLab) and serves as a consultant for several health care and technology companies. Prior to that, he worked in senior management positions at Baxter Healthcare and McKesson. He previously served on the ADA’s Community Leadership Board for the San Francisco area, served nationally on the Finance Committee and the board of directors.

The Elect Officers for 2019 are:

• Umesh Verma, Chair of the Board-Elect
  Umesh Verma is chief executive officer of BLUE LANCE, Inc., a leading developer of cybersecurity governance, assurance, audit and compliance automation software. He is the founder of Cyber Houston and the Houston Cyber Summit. A national leader in emerging technologies, he serves on the Boards of The Center for Houston's Future, University of Houston College of Technology and the Greater Houston HealthConnect. Verma is passionate about helping improve the lives of people with diabetes and serves on the executive committee of the Houston Diabetes Resource Center. Verma has served the American Diabetes Association as chair of the Houston Community Leadership Board, chair of the Finance Committee, and as the 2017 secretary/treasurer for the national Board of Directors.

• Mary de Groot, PhD, President-Elect, Health Care & Education
  Mary de Groot, PhD, is an associate professor of medicine and acting director of the Diabetes Translational Research Center at Indiana University. She received her Master of Education degree from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education in 1989 and her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Rhode Island in 1999. Dr. de Groot is a clinical health psychologist whose research focuses on examining the mechanisms that link diabetes and depression as well as the development of accessible interventions to treat depression among adults and socioeconomically and culturally diverse populations with diabetes. Since 2017, Dr. de Groot is a member of the American Diabetes Association Board of Directors. In addition, Dr. de Groot has contributed more than 100 articles and presentations on the psychosocial aspects of type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

• Robert H. Eckel, MD, President-Elect, Medicine & Science
  Robert Eckel is a Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and currently the Charles A. Boettcher II Endowed Chair in Atherosclerosis, Professor of Medicine with appointments in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes, Division of Cardiology and professor of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Anschutz Medical Campus, and director of the Lipid Clinic at the University of Colorado Hospital. He also was a member of the Scientific Advisory Council of the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the National Institutes of Health. In addition, he served as president of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity and then president of the American Heart Association.

• Martha Parry Clark, MBA, Secretary/Treasurer-Elect
  Martha Parry Clark is a retired chief executive officer with global executive experience that spans the asset management, health non-profit, banking and strategy consulting industries. For the American Diabetes Association, Clark most recently served as the interim CEO, as chair of the Finance Committee, and as chair of the Community Leadership Board for the San Francisco Bay Area. She also serves on the board of Project Redwood, a non-profit that provides grants and consulting services to early-stage social entrepreneurs focusing on extreme poverty.

New At-Large Board Members are:

• Glen Tullman
  Glen Tullman is executive chairman and founder of Livongo and is passionately committed to finding a cure for diabetes and other chronic conditions and keeping people healthy until we do. A visionary leader and entrepreneur, he previously ran two public companies that changed the way healthcare is delivered. Tullman is also a co-founder and partner in 7wireVentures, an early stage investment firm focused on healthcare. He is the author of On Our Terms: Empowering the New Health Consumer, which proposes new solutions to address the chronic-condition epidemic facing our country.

• Robert M. Cuddihy, MD
  Robert M. Cuddihy is the vice president, US Medical Affairs, at AMGEN. He has close to two decades of practice experience as a clinical diabetologist at the Mayo Clinic, Harvard & MGH, International Diabetes Center (IDC), and the University of Minnesota. He was actively engaged in diabetes research as an investigator on numerous diabetes-related clinic trials including the DCCT-EDIC and ACCORD trials. A frequent speaker on diabetes-related topics at numerous national and global medical congresses and educator of physicians throughout the world on the treatment of diabetes through the World Health Organization, he has dedicated his life to educating and advocating for individuals living with diabetes. Dr. Cuddihy has participated in many American Diabetes Association Expo's in Minneapolis and served as chair of the New York City ADA Diabetes Expo, as well as other programs outside the ADA, such as Taking Care of Your Diabetes (TCOYD).

• Julio Rosenstock, MD
  Julio Rosenstock is director of the Dallas Diabetes Research Center at Medical City and clinical professor of medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center located in Dallas. Rosenstock has been the author or co-author of more than 516 publications, including 278 peer-reviewed manuscripts and numerous abstracts. He has also contributed to 13 clinics and book chapters on several topics in the field of diabetes. Rosenstock is currently associate editor of Diabetes Care, an editorial board member of Practical Diabetology and Cardiovascular Diabetology and is an active reviewer for several journals. Rosenstock has chaired or been a featured speaker at multiple lectures and presentations both nationally and internationally.

• Otis W. Kirksey, PharmD, RPh, CDE, BC-ADM
  Otis W. Kirksey currently serves as the director of pharmacy services for Neighborhood Medical Center in Tallahassee, FL. He brings 25 years of experience in academia as a former Professor of Pharmacy Practice at Florida A&M University College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Prior to his faculty appointment he was a clinical pharmacist in Research and Information Services at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center. He served more than 11 years on the board of Neighborhood Medical Center and is currently the director of the Prince Hall Shriners' National Diabetes Initiative. In this role, he has led the organization's effort to fulfill its 10-year, $1 million-dollar commitment to the American Diabetes Association, to support research and outreach efforts in underserved communities – particularly African American and Hispanic.

• Jean O’Connor, JD, DrPH, FACHE
  Jean O’Connor is a senior public health practitioner with RTI International, a nonprofit research institute. Her work focuses on non-communicable diseases and the systems and policies that influence these conditions. She also is on the faculty at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory, on the editorial board for Preventing Chronic Disease and a past-president of the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors. She is a member of the State Bar of Georgia and a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives.

The Principal Officers of the Board whose terms of leadership service ended on December 31, 2018 are:

• Karen Talmadge, PhD, Chair

• Felicia Hill-Briggs, PhD, ABPP, President, Health Care & Education

• Jane Reusch, MD, President, Medicine & Science

• Michael Ching, CPA, Secretary/Treasurer

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