Whittier Institute for Diabetes

More than 25 years ago, a noted philanthropist created a center to combat diabetes. Since then, the Whittier Institute for Diabetes has become one of the top facilities of its kind in the country, supporting a full range of education and research.

There is plenty of need for the institute’s work. About 7 percent of Americans have diabetes, treatment for which is estimated to account for one out of every 10 dollars spent on healthcare in the United States.

The institute’s research arm, which includes 17 principal investigators and dozens of other researchers, is on the cutting edge of diabetes research. The scientists are looking for better treatments and a cure; the institute is credited as being the first in the world to successfully replicate insulinproducing human islet cells outside the body. Locally, the Whittier Institute may be even better known for its landmark educational programs.

“Diabetes is a chronic illness. It’s not an illness that requires one physician visit to treat it and then you’ve taken care of it,” executive director and chief medical officer Dr. Athena Philis-Tsimikas says. “Patients have to learn how to deal with it and take care of it over their entire lifetimes.” To make things more complicated, there are fewer primary care physicians, the ones who have traditionally addressed diabetes care with patients.

There’s a lot of education and handholding that’s required,” says Philis-Tsimikas. “You need an hour or two hours or sometimes 10 hours of ongoing education to help patients understand what they need to do to better control the disease.” Through its Project Dulce program, the La Jolla–based institute has taught approximately 5,000 underserved patients how to take better care of themselves.

In addition, the institute offers the services of a roving mobile medical unit equipped with two examination rooms and a device that allows medical professionals to detect damage to the retinas of diabetes patients. At least 1,500 people have undergone eye screening tests.

“We’re reaching out to a large population that would never get great care, preventing heart disease, blindness and kidney disease that might otherwise have progressed,” Philis- Tsimikas says. “We’re really helping patients manage themselves.”

Besides assisting patients directly, the institute reaches out to local doctors and nurses to give them the latest information about diabetes. Whittier experts also travel nationwide to offer training to medical professionals. Locally, the institute has collaborated with Scripps Health, the University of California, San Diego, Children’s Hospital, San Diego Community Clinics and the Scripps Research Institute. “We’ve educated a huge number of professionals,” Philis- Tsimikas says, “and we’re setting the trend on how diabetes care in the future should occur.” 

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