Program Directors
Halis Kaan Akturk, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics
Founder/Director of Diabetes Dialog Program
Dr. Akturk is a Board-Certified Adult Endocrinologist and an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics. He is the founder and director of Diabetes Dialog Program with Dr. Shah. His research focuses on improving diabetes related outcomes with diabetes technologies in type 1 diabetes and cancer immunotherapy induced type 1 diabetes.
Dr. Akturk also serves as American Diabetes Association, Diabetes Technology Interest Group Communications Director. He has been a speaker for American Diabetes Association and many other national and international diabetes conferences. He has been a speaker in numerous hybrid closed loop and continuous glucose monitor workshops.
Dr. Akturk has been a principal investigator for many clinical trials of new diabetes technologies and therapeutics including; hybrid closed loop pumps, continuous glucose monitors and faster insulins. He has over 50 peer-reviewed publications and has been a reviewer for high-impact diabetes journals.
Viral Shah, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics
Director of Diabetes Dialog Program 2018- 2023
Dr. Shah is a Board-Certified Adult Endocrinologist and an Associate Professor at the Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. His research is focused on improving glycemic control and reducing complications, with special interest in fracture prevention, in people with type 1 diabetes.
Dr. Shah is principal investigator on several clinical trials of diabetes technologies and therapeutics. In a NIDDK funded R01, he is investigating effect of type 1 diabetes on bone fragility in older adults with long-standing type 1 diabetes.
Dr. Shah has served on many leadership positions such as; steering committee member for T1D Exchange Clinic Registry (2016-2017), Communication director for diabetes technology interest group at the American Diabetes Association (2019-2020), and American College of Endocrinology Self-Assessment Program writing committee member (202-2021). He is well published with over 100 research publications including original articles, invited reviews, editorials, and book chapters. He is reviewer for many peer-reviewed journals.
Satish Garg, MD
Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine
Marian Rewers, MD, PhD
Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine
A letter from the Program Director…
Adult Endocrinology Fellows,
We designed this free-of-charge diabetes education program for you. We pay for your meals, flights, lodging, conference and workshop attendance fees. We want to create a friendly atmosphere that you can master diabetes concepts and current diabetes technologies.
Our educational program is highly ranked among participants since we began in 2018. The Diabetes Dialog program includes cutting-edge clinical based lectures for type 1 and type 2 diabetes with a focus on type 1 diabetes and diabetes technology workshops. We know the limitations and strenuous workload within Endocrinology Fellowship. You may or may not have a lot of experience with diabetes technologies in your fellowship program. We want to invite you to the Barbara Davis Center, a world renowned type 1 diabetes clinic and research center. Our goal is to improve your confidence when treating patients with type 1 diabetes and improve your interpretation and use of advanced diabetes technologies.
Our program is unique; through small group didactics and workshops, your knowledge of diabetes care and technologies will strengthen and your understanding become assured. In our small group technology workshops, you will have a HANDS-ON experience with ALL diabetes technologies available in the United States (all insulin pumps, hybrid closed loop systems, smart insulin pens and CGMs). Using real-patient cases, you will experience everything from button-pushing and setting up, to downloading and interpreting. We promise, you will have a fascinating experience.
You can wear a CGM yourself, as well as apply one to another, all under the direction of leading experts. In the Barbara Davis Center, we have more hybrid closed loop patients than anywhere in the United States. We will show you how to get the maximum benefits from these systems. Our primary goal is for you to feel more comfortable implementing diabetes technologies and caring for diabetic patients by the end of the program.
100% of previous attendees recommended Diabetes Dialog to future fellows and peers. We allow attendees based on our budget and logistics, and unfortunately, we can’t accept all applications. With the enormous interest in previous years, we continue to receive far more applications than we can currently accommodate but in the future, we do intend to increase the limit of attendees without changing the small-group atmosphere of our program.
We highly encourage you to apply for Diabetes Dialog when applications are open and are looking forward to seeing you.
Dr. Akturk, Diabetes Dialog Program Directors