The American Diabetes Association (ADA) welcomes the 2020 Principal Officers and Board of Directors. The 18-member board is comprised of forward-thinking, innovative medical, scientific, education and executive professionals, who will strategically lead and focus efforts to ensure the ADA continues to be synonymous with excellence.

"We are thrilled to welcome the newest members of ADA’s National Board of Directors,” said Tracey D. Brown, Chief Executive Officer of the ADA. “With the help of these talented and dedicated experts, we will continue the important work that leads us closer and closer to ending the diabetes epidemic. We are also thankful for the service and commitment of our outgoing Principal Officers David Herrick, Gretchen Youssef, Louis H. Philipson and Brian Bertha.”

The Principal Officers of the Board of Directors who started their terms of service on January 1, 2020 are: 

• Umesh Verma, Chairman of the Board
  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, Health Care & Education
  Mary de Groot, Ph.D., 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, Medicine & Science
  Robert Eckel is a Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and former Charles A. Boettcher II Endowed Chair in Atherosclerosis at the University of Colorado School of Medicine Anschutz Medical Campus. He is Professor of Medicine Emeritus with appointments in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes and Division of Cardiology. 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 president of the American Heart Association.
   
• Martha Parry Clark, MBA, Secretary/Treasurer
  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.

The Elect Officers for 2020 are:

• John Schlosser, Chairman-Elect
• Chris Ralston, JD, Secretary/Treasurer-Elect
• Cynthia Muñoz, PhD, MPH, President-Elect, Health Care & Education
• C. Ronald Kahn, MD, President-Elect, Medicine & Science

New At-Large Board Members are:

• John Schlosser
• Amparo Gonzalez, MPH, RN, CDE, FAADE
• Stephanie Silverman, MBA

The members of the Board whose terms of leadership service ended on December 31, 2019 are:

• Louis H. Philipson, MD, PhD, FACP, President, Medicine & Science
• Brian Bertha, JD, Secretary/Treasurer
• Janet Brown Friday, RN, MSN, MPH

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