CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., April 26, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- InSpark Technologies, a leader in diabetes advanced pattern recognition technology, today announced the formation of its Thought Leadership Council with six key appointments of leading diabetes experts: Timothy Bailey, MD, David Marrero, PhD, Anne Peters, MD, Gary Scheiner, MS, Robert Tanenberg, MD and Hope Warshaw, MS, RD.
The Thought Leadership Council will work closely with the InSpark Technologies management team as it launches its lead product, VigilantTM, a companion to regular diabetes monitoring, which is now available for download in the Apple App Store and Google Play store. Enabled by advanced pattern recognition technology, Vigilant can provide people with diabetes with glanceable summaries of their glucose control and alert them to high-risk periods on compatible smartphones. For example, Vigilant can alert people when they are at increased risk of severe hypoglycemia in the next 24 hours. InSpark believes that Vigilant has the potential to transform the diabetes data analysis standard of care in the more than 10 million people with diabetes worldwide who take multiple injections of insulin each day or who use insulin pumps.
"The formation of our Thought Leadership Council underscores our commitment to ensuring that our products are meeting the needs of individuals with diabetes and their clinicians,” said Erik Otto, president and co-founder of InSpark Technologies. "It is important to us that our Thought Leadership Council be representative of individuals with diabetes, certified diabetes educators, physicians specializing in diabetes and experienced diabetes researchers. The background and experience of our Thought Leadership Council members is going to be invaluable as we not only move Vigilant forward into nationwide launch, but also as we develop additional technology solutions for people with diabetes."
Timothy Bailey, MD is the President and Director, AMCR Institute, Escondido, CA. Dr. Bailey is a clinical associate professor of medicine at the University of California at San Diego. He is the immediate past president of the California chapter of American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE). Dr. Bailey has extensive experience in medical device trials, including diabetes management software.
David Marrero, PhD is the J.O. Ritchey Professor of Medicine at Indiana University and Director of the Indiana University Diabetes Translational Research Center, Indianapolis, IN. Dr. Marrero is an expert in the field of clinical trials in diabetes and translation research and has lived with type 1 diabetes for 40 years. In 2015, he was elected American Diabetes Association (ADA) President, Health Care & Education on its Board of Directors.
Anne Peters, MD is the Director, USC Clinical Diabetes Programs and Professor, Keck School of Medicine of USC, Los Angeles, CA. Dr. Anne L. Peters is a nationally and internationally respected diabetologist and diabetes researcher with multiple NIH and foundation grants, and author of many publications, including the ADA position statements on the treatment of hyperglycemia in type 2 diabetes as well as on the treatment of type 1 diabetes across the lifespan.
Gary Scheiner, MS, CDE, is the Owner & Clinical Director of Integrated Diabetes Services, Wynnewood, PA. Mr. Scheiner has been a certified diabetes educator for 20 years and has had type 1 diabetes for 35 years. He was named 2014 Diabetes Educator of the Year by the American Association of Diabetes Educators. Mr. Scheiner serves on the faculty of Children With Diabetes and the Board of Directors of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF).
Robert Tanenberg, MD is a Professor of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University (ECU) in Greenville, North Carolina. Dr. Tanenberg directs the ECU Diabetes Research Center where has been a principal investigator for over 60 diabetes research studies. He has over 35 years’ experience in the management of type 1 diabetes. He was formerly on the faculty of Georgetown University and was a consultant to the NIH for the landmark Diabetes Control and Complications Trial.
Hope Warshaw, MMSc, RD, CDE, owns Hope Warshaw Associates, LLC. Hope has been a dietitian and certified diabetes educator for nearly forty years. Ms. Warshaw has authored numerous consumer and professional focused books published by American Diabetes. She is a writer and contributing editor for Diabetic Living magazine and writes The Washington Post Nutrition Q&A column. During 2016 Warshaw is serving as President of the American Association of Diabetes Educators.
“I am thrilled to join these other leading experts in diabetes to support InSpark,” commented Bob Tanenberg, MD. “Importantly, the formation of the Thought Leadership Council serves as an endorsement for the scientific and clinical communities enthusiasm for Vigilant and more broadly the company’s unique advance pattern recognition technology platform.”
"Having lived with diabetes myself for 35 years and working as a diabetes educator, I know first hand of the need for innovative technologies that are easy to use and yet provide meaningful insights to people with diabetes,” said Gary Scheiner. “Technology like Vigilant can have a significant impact on the quality of life of people living with diabetes. I am honored to participate on this Council.”
About Diabetes
Diabetes affects over 21.9 million Americans, and low blood sugar – or hypoglycemia – is a common and major complication of the disease. According to the American Diabetes Association, it accounts for over 282,000 emergency room visits per year. It annually affects up to 30 percent of individuals with type 1 diabetes, the rarer form in which an individual must rely on insulin treatment because their pancreas doesn’t produce enough insulin to regulate their blood glucose levels.
About InSpark Technologies, Inc.
InSpark Technologies is developing tools that help people with diabetes transform the significant amount of blood glucose data captured on a daily basis into useful insight. InSpark’s technology alerts patients and clinicians about patterns indicative of periods of risk at the time they need it most (such as when a patient is testing, and in advance of the period of risk). InSpark’s technology is derived from a broad suite of pattern recognition intellectual property developed by Drs. Boris Kovatchev, Daniel Cox and Marc Breton, and licensed from the University of Virginia Licensing and Ventures Group. More information can be found at www.insparktech.com and http://vigilant.insparktech.com. Follow us on twitter at @insparktech.
- VigilantTM is a trademark of InSpark Technologies, Inc.
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