Researchers, physicians, psychiatrists and educators combine to prevent diabetes from ever developing.

Our focus goes beyond managing diabetes. We're working to prevent diabetes in people who are most at risk. Our diabetes prevention programs target ethnic groups that have a higher-than-average prevalence of diabetes, including African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans.

Reaching Out to Prevent Diabetes in Young People

 Our “Reach-Out” program addresses a top risk factor for type 2 diabetes: the increasingly common problem of obesity among children and adolescents. This culturally-sensitive program focuses especially on diabetes-prevention efforts for African-American young people in Chicago.

Preventing Diabetes in Adults at Risk

The University of Chicago has served as a clinical study site in the ongoing, multi-center Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP), funded by the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disorders (NIH/NIDDK). It has focused primarily on African-Americans at high risk of diabetes.

To date, the study has shown that diet and exercise can prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes in certain people at risk (those with impaired glucose tolerance). Results have also shown that the oral drug metformin helped to prevent or delay type 2 diabetes, although not as effectively as diet and exercise.

Education

With an ADA-recognized Diabetes Education Program, the University of Chicago Kovler Diabetes Center provides a range of resources to help those at risk of diabetes learn how to avoid its onset. These include classes, one-to-one nutritional counseling, behavioral counseling and support groups.