Our Expert Panel

Dr. James Gavin III is a noted leader in the field of diabetes, serving as CEO and Chief Medical Officer of Healing Our Village, Inc, Clinical Professor of Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine, and Clinical Professor of Medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine. Dr. Gavin is a former president of the American Diabetes Association, recipient of the Banting Medal for Distinguished Service, and in 1991 received the Association’s Clinician of the Year award for his contributions to diabetes care. In 2010, Dr. Gavin, along with the rest of the Kapche Litigation Team, received the Association’s Public Policy Leadership Award for his work in defending the right of people with diabetes to live free of discrimination.  He earned his PhD in biochemistry from Emory University and his MD from the Duke University School of Medicine.

Dr. Faith Foreman is the Assistant Director of the Houston Department of Health & Human Services. She also serves as the Chair of Cities Changing Diabetes, a partnership program dedicated to investigating and solving the problem of diabetes in urban centers.  An expert in public and community health promotion, evaluation and planning, Foreman has led the design, implementation, and evaluation of numerous health interventions at the local, state and federal level. She has a special passion for eliminating health disparities among marginalized communities and strives to bring social justice and equity to the delivery of preventive health services. She received her PhD in Public Health from the University of Texas Health Center at Houston.

Dr. Timothy Garvey is a Professor of Medicine and Chair of the Department of Nutrition Sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He obtained his MD degree, cum laude, from St. Louis University in 1978, and completed residency training in Internal Medicine at Barnes Hospital, Washington University, in 1981. He subsequently held faculty posts at the University of California, School of Medicine (Assistant Professor), Indiana University School of Medicine (Associate and full Professor), and from 1994 to 2003 was the Director of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Medical Genetics at the Medical University of South Carolina. Dr. Garvey began working at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2004.

Dr. Bon Ku is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University. Dr. Ku founded and directs a program that teaches medical students to solve healthcare challenges using design thinking.  The first ever design program in a medical school empowers future doctors to redesign healthcare services, physical spaces and medical devices. Ku received his B.A. in Classical Studies from Penn, M.D. from Penn State College of Medicine, and M.P.P. from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University. He completed an emergency medicine residency at Long Island Jewish Hospital where he was a chief resident and a fellowship in point-of-care ultrasound at Penn.

Dr. Donna Ryan is Professor and Associate Executive Director for Clinical Research at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center and the President-Elect of the World Obesity Federation. Dr. Ryan has dedicated her career to obesity management and prevention, and she has initiated a multitude of studies regarding weight loss routine in medical practice and other aspects that relate to effectively managing obesity. She has previously served as President of the Obesity Society. She is the Principal Investigator of LOSS (Louisiana Obese Subjects Study) and has been an Investigator on the Diabetes Prevention Program. She is an active mentor as Chair of the Clinical Mentoring Committee at PBRC, particularly encouraging junior women scientists. She earned her MD at the Louisiana State University School of Medicine.

Dr. Barbara Troupin, the Chief Medical Officer and VP of Clinical Development and Regulatory Affairs at Aquinox Pharmaceuticals, Inc, is a licensed physician and Diplomate of the American Board of Obesity Medicine. Dr. Barbara Troupin, MD is a family medicine doctor who practices in San Diego, CA. She has been practicing for 22 years. Dr. Troupin has worked in the therapeutic drug development aspect of medicine for over 18 years, leading strategy as well as clinical development at multiple institutions, She earned her MD and MBA from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and Wharton School. She earned her BA in biochemistry and cell biology at the University of California San Diego.

Dr. David Napier is a Professor of Medical Anthropology at University College London (UCL) and Director of its Science, Medicine, and Society Network. Professor Napier has been involved in three Lancet commissions, leading the 2014 Lancet Commission on Culture and Health. He regularly writes for the press and is lead author on a just published WHO Policy Brief on the Cultural Contexts of Health and Well-being. For his activities with more than 100 charities and NGOs, the UK government and research councils awarded him the first Beacon Fellowship in Public Engagement. Napier is also the recipient of the Burma Coalition’s Human Rights Award, and has served as a consultant on vulnerable populations in the aftermath of natural and human disasters, having, among others, worked for the World Health Organization, CRISIS UK, The United Nations, and the International Organization for Migration. He is currently the academic lead on the global Cities Changing Diabetes initiative and writing a new book on social trust.

Virginia Valentine is a Clinical Nurse Specialist for Sage Specialty Care in Albuquerque, NM. As an Advanced Practice Nurse, she provides clinical management and diabetes education for a wide variety of patients and clinical challenges. She is also Scientific Officer and Area Director for PromoLogics Inc., a specialty healthcare marketing agency exclusively focused on Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants. Ms. Valentine received her Master of Science in Nursing degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Nursing in Oklahoma City. She is Board-Certified in Advanced Diabetes Management and is a Certified Diabetes Educator. In 2006, the American Association of Diabetes Educators recognized Ms. Valentine with its Distinguished Service Award and awarded her Fellow status in 2010. Ms. Valentine is the author of Diabetes, the New Type 2. She has been living well with type 2 diabetes for over 30 years.

Dr. Jaakko Tuomilehto is a Professor of Public Health at the University of Helsinki, Finland and is associated with the Diabetes and Genetic Epidemiology Unit of the National Public Health Institute in Helsinki, Finland. He received his medical degree and his MPolSc in psychology, sociology, and statistics from the University of Turku, Finland before acquiring his PhD in Epidemiology and Community Medicine at the University of Kuoprio, Finland. Dr. Tuomilehto has received the India’s Prof. M. Viswanathan DRC Silver Jubilee Oration Award; Hans Chiari Award of the Austrian Stroke Research Society, the Kelly West Award for Outstanding Achievement in Epidemiology from the American Diabetes Association and the Peter Bennett Diabetes Epidemiology Award from the International Epidemiology Group.