Juvenile Diabetes (Type 1)-Why UAB?

UAB is one of the few institutions nationally who offer a Transition Clinic to help pediatric patients graduate into adulthood. A young person who chooses UAB can depend on a continuum of care throughout life.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has designated the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) one of only six Diabetes Research and Training Centers in the country, putting UAB at the forefront in the development of new methods to treat, prevent and, ultimately, cure diabetes and its complications. The NIH award gives UAB $6.3 million over five years to grow its diabetes initiatives.

 

Research opportunities offer promising new treatments such as islet transplant and work with antimonoclonal cells (immune system antibodies). Stem-cell treatments, from the patient’s own body or bone marrow donors, are also showing positive results in early tests.

 

Patients with complicated cases choose UAB for its physicians, who are leaders in the field. UAB ranks consistently among the best hospitals in America and hundreds of our physicians have been named Best Doctors in America.

 

UAB is active in research, hunting for answers on how to better treat patients and how to cure diabetes. Through our clinical trials, we have access to new and novel treatments and drugs. Our grants can also help pay for consultations and drugs.

 

The UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center hosts more than 150 faculty members, including physicians and science researchers. The members represent eight schools including the Schools of Medicine, Public Health, Health Professions, Nursing, and Dentistry. Comprehensive Diabetes Center faculty members seek to improve the care of diabetic patients while working towards a cure through medical care, basic science, and research. 

 

UAB hosts a Multidisciplinary Comprehensive Diabetes Clinic to provide in a single day the specialists a diabetic would take up to a week to visit. These are the specialists working in the clinic: an Endocrinologist, Nutritionist, Ophthalmologist, Podiatrist, social workers, and diabetic educators.

 

The Bridge Clinic helps patients with an intense insulin regimen go from hospital to home with a continuum of care. Often, the intense treatment in the hospital can disrupt regular diabetic treatment, making it unsafe to return to normal medicines and routines. UAB’s team follows up for several weeks to make sure the patient gets better. No other hospital offers this service for diabetics.