The following people have achieved extraordinary things. They may not all be famous – at least, not as famous as they should be – but their stories are towering achievements in the field of diabetes.
Some have made breakthroughs in scientific research, others have inspired through their extraordinary stories; all have changed the way we think about diabetes.
- Frederick Banting – Nobel Prize winner who co-discovered insulin and was the first person to use insulin on humans
- William Banting – pioneer of the low carb approach to type 2 diabetes
- Charles Best – Banting’s assistant and one of the co-discoverer of insulin
- Leonard Thompson – first person to receive an insulin injection
- Eva Saxl – who made her own insulin during WW2
- Ernest Sterzer – only reported case of somebody with type 1 diabetes surviving the Holocaust
- Dr Elliott Joslin – a pioneer in diabetes treatment
- Dr Robert Lawrence – founder of the British Diabetic Association
- Frederick Madison Allen – devised the starvation diet, before insulin was isolated
- C Ronald Kahn – pioneered research into insulin receptors and insulin sensitivity
- Apollinaire Bouchardat – founder of diabetology
- James Collip – worked with Banting and Best, vital in producing the first insulin dose for use on humans
- Oskar Minkowski – known for his discovery of pancreatic diabetes
- George F Cahill Jr. – investigated how the starvation diet affected obesity and diabetes
- Priscilla White – pioneered research into diabetic woman during pregnancy
