On April 25, the Dartmouth Diabetes Initiative held their second annual Diabetes Dash 5K run. The Initiative was co-founded by Kyriakos Papasavas ’28 and Coston Autry ’28 to raise awareness about diabetes on campus.
For Papasavas and Autry, the issue is personal. Both students have Type 1 diabetes and saw their personal experiences as a way to decrease barriers for diabetes education.
“I’ve been dealing with [Type 1 Diabetes] for some time and education was crucial for how I learned to manage my diabetes,” Autry said, referring to how medical education from professionals has helped him. “I think we should do all that we can to help folks that don’t have access to this education.”
The event began on the lawn of the Life Sciences Center with a series of speeches by experts and partners, including Dr. Richard Comi, a former endocrinologist and Geisel professor; Bethany Murabito from Memories Made, a non-profit organization that helps alleviate barriers to youth diabetes camps; and Danielle Basta, the Diabetes Initiative faculty advisor, nurse practitioner and Geisel faculty member.
Comi has practiced endocrinology in the Upper Valley since 1989 and emphasized the need for more diabetes education. He has been involved with the insulin program at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, which trains patients on using insulin pumps, and conducted research on diabetes treatment, including a publication on the effects of GLP-1 drugs in Type 1 diabetes. Comi said he has seen first hand how severe complications from high blood sugars caused by diabetes have decreased in the past three decades because of better medical care and prevention. However, this change requires more education for patients.
“Before, it was just injecting insulin and watching your diet,” Comi told the crowd. “Now, it’s interpreting sensors, interpreting glucose levels, using sensors and pumps and using GLP-1 drugs.”
Papasavas announced that, in recognition of Comi’s important work in diabetes education, Dartmouth Diabetes Initiative officially announced the establishment of the Comi Fund for Diabetes Initiatives at Dartmouth to advance diabetes education and awareness in the community.
For Basta, the Diabetes Initiative brings in an important student perspective and addresses challenges to bridge child and adult diabetes care because of developmental differences between children and adults.
“Our brains are not completely developed, nor are our muscles and hormones,” Basta said. “Going from one’s family doctor, pediatrician or endocrinologist [as a child] to a different set of caregivers is a challenge.”
Basta said that one way to help manage diabetes is to start learning about it from a young age. Part of that solution is diabetes camp, where children with diabetes learn about diabetes care and management from counselors, oftentimes, who were campers. Often, they are also staffed by volunteer specialists, such as Dr. Comi.
While diabetes care and management is important, cost can be prohibitive.. The Diabetes Initiative aims to alleviate it. For the event, they partnered with Memories Made to cover the cost of attendance at diabetes camps for children to increase diabetes education access. The collaboration provides private scholarships or supplies such as camping gear and transportation that allows children to participate in camps.
“Medical camps in general are expensive,” Memories Made communications director Bethany Murabito said. “We wanted to ensure that kids from all walks of life could attend camp because diabetes doesn’t care what your income is.”
The event’s sponsors and partners included Positive Tracks, an organization dedicated to helping the community through sport; Novo Nordisk, a pharmaceutical manufacturer which, among other things, produces diabetes medications; and Glooko, a diabetes management program. Dartmouth’s Health and Wellness Division, Lou’s, Molly’s and Ramunto’s were also involved in supporting the event, along with many other local organizations.
Dartmouth student band Avalanche and acapella group the Dartmouth Sings also performed after the race.
The event drew 250 participants, ranging from students to community members. Second place men’s winner Alex Young ’29 said he was thrilled to participate.
“I like running, I wanted an opportunity to run a 5K in Hanover and I thought it was a really good cause and student-run. I wanted to support it and be a part of the community,” Young said.
Young learned about the event through the advertisements that were placed on tables in the Class of 1953 Commons and then learned more about the Diabetes Initiative.
“I’m not too involved in the medical scene here at Dartmouth, so it was interesting to see the kind of community there,” Young said.
Young added that he would “absolutely” run Diabetes Dash next year.
Alongside Diabetes Initiative co-presidents Papasavas, Autry and Chase Lowney ’28, 35 students and club members volunteered through registering participants and overseeing course directions. Annika Amrhein ’28, who volunteered, said she was drawn to the group’s “amazing cause.”
“The council just works so hard, I can just see the passion and I want to support that,” Amrhein said. “I’m so proud of all they’ve done and to get to be a part of that was so exciting.”
Like Young, Amrhein learned more about the impacts of diabetes from the event’s speakers.
In addition to the Diabetes Dash, Papasavas and Autry have advocated for increased diabetes education in front of policy makers, helping pass legislation in New Hampshire that would require all school districts to teach students about common symptoms of Type 1 diabetes.
Papasavas said he hopes that the event will continue into the future.
“As a freshman, I was inspired by the CHaD Hero,” an annual race that raises money for the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, he said. “We hope to make this a tradition every year.”
