Life inside the lab and driving equity in health research with Dr Paida Katsande

The second you start speaking to Dr Paida Katsande, it’s near impossible not to feel more calm, more hopeful, and reassured about the good of humanity. Her sunshine energy is unmistakable, but coupled with the realities of life experience and a clear mission to establish equity in public health, dismantle stigma and improve health outcomes? It’s all the more powerful.

A former postdoctoral researcher in type 1 diabetes, Dr Paida is committed to her work, but also committed to sharing her research in a way that everyone in every community can access and understand, pushing for greater communication in health both in the UK and her native Zimbabwe.

This chat bounced from light and laughter to poignant and raw and back again, offering the full scope of human experience which Dr Paida unapologetically brings to her work in order to connect science with the human experience.

She lifts the lid on the latest in diabetes research, the link between the circadian rhythm and immunity, collaboration, the realities of a lab day, and how she protects her own health from the challenges of spending your days immersed in complex, life-threatening conditions.

CONNECT WITH PAIDA
Follow Paida on Instagram.
Discover Paida on TikTok.

JOIN THE TYPE 1 ON 1 INSTAGRAM COMMUNITY
Come and say hi @studiotype1on1 on Instagram.
 
SPONSOR MESSAGE
This episode of Type 1 on 1 is sponsored by Insulet, the makers of Omnipod tube-free insulin pump therapy.
 
Using Omnipod 5 Automated Insulin Delivery has improved my diabetes management significantly with less diabetes decisions, and of course no multiple daily injections.
 
How? Well, Omnipod 5 automatically adjusts insulin every five minutes to help keep me in range, allowing life outside of type 1 diabetes to get bigger.
 
If you want to know more, head to Omnipod.com.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This episode of Type one on one is kindly sponsored
by Insulette. More on that later. What I will say
now is that we have a shiny new Instagram page
dedicated specifically to the Type one on one podcast. It's
very exciting, So come and say hi and join our
lovely community at Studio type one on one. The link
is in the episode description. Hi everyone, and welcome to

(00:25):
Type one on one, a podcast that delves into the obscure,
complex and challenging world of life with type one diabetes.
I'm Jen Greeves, and each week, with the help of
some brilliant guests, I'll be showing that there is no
normal when it comes to handlink this whopper of a
chronic condition, because we're all pretty much figuring out the

(00:46):
messiness of day to day life with diabetes as we go.
And most of all, even though it doesn't always feel
like it, we are absolutely not alone. Dr Pider Katsanday
Lives and Breathes Health. A former postdoctoral researcher in type
one diabetes. Doctor Pider is not only immersed in her work,
but she's committed to sharing that research in a way

(01:08):
that everybody can understand and benefit from. Pushing towards greater
equality in health. For Pider, this is much more than
just a job. It's a mission and we're going to
find out so much more about what drives her but
also what really happens behind the lab doors. Welcome Pider
to the Type one on one podcast.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
Thank you for inviting me, Jen, I'm so excited.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
Yes, the vibes have been high. You are just absolute sunshine.
I came across your account, I think, on Instagram, and
I was so struck by your energy but also kind
of how you were breaking down what does go on
in the world of research, because as someone living with
a health condition, it doesn't come into my sphere very often.

(01:51):
So I just absolutely love what you're putting out there.
Thank you so much for joining me today.

Speaker 3 (01:56):
I'm glad it's having an impact out there because that
is my mission. I do want to share the information
that's happening in research with like the general community and
the public.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
So I'm glad, yeah, because I mean, you're so immersed
in it and you're living and breathing it, and you
know what you're doing is, you know, working towards change,
working towards better outcomes. But how do you see like
where is that gap between what you're doing and what
we see from the outside. I mean, that's obviously something

(02:27):
you spotted, So what is happening there, do you think?

Speaker 2 (02:32):
So?

Speaker 3 (02:32):
I feel like the gap comes from researchers generally, we
don't speak with the community, we don't engage with the community.
And I feel like it's very important that the two intertwined,
because if we don't share the information that is going
on in house in their laboratories, how can we better,
you know, make research accessible and how can we have

(02:55):
research that fits with the community, particularly for people we've
lived experience and so people with tan D How can
we then make research with that imputant information out there
to then gain information back to say, Okay, maybe Jen
wants this. This isn't working for Jen, like you know,
maybe about the whole community, but like you know, having

(03:20):
that that fridging that gap is important for that.

Speaker 2 (03:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (03:25):
So I feel like that's where my passion comes from,
and that's why I'm so passionate about singing to the
general public. Basically, that's how I've put it, singing to
the community.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
Yeah, and it's it's beautiful. It's like I really understood
what you were doing. I'm someone who endlessly says I'm
not a science person, and I know I'm speaking as
as just me and there are so many other people
out there, but you know, we're here in our day
to day of what we're dealing with and what we're
going through, and actually all of this big science and

(04:00):
this big data that is what it comes back to.
And I just love that you see that cyclical relationship
between science and kind of the humans that this science
is all kind of working for. Before we really get
into it, I'd love to give the listeners some background.

Speaker 4 (04:18):
So can you tell me a little bit about who
is pilot? The vibe of Fighter?

Speaker 2 (04:24):
Yeah, I loved to sud love that.

Speaker 3 (04:26):
So I'm originally from Zimbabwe, so that's my heritage, and honestly,
I was a bit of a brain.

Speaker 2 (04:32):
Box growing up in Zim.

Speaker 3 (04:34):
So I moved to the UK when I was eight
years old, but prior to coming here, I was just
a brain box in my books, just reading. And then
when I did move here, like science was still.

Speaker 2 (04:46):
At the you know, the peak of my brain.

Speaker 3 (04:48):
It was something that I was very passionate about and
I was always wanted to be a doctor, Like that's
one thing I've always wanted to be. And then I thought, okay,
but what kind of doctor. I didn't want to be
in the medic case side of things because I find
that so overwhelming. Then I thought about research, Okay, how
can I still input into, you know, the healthcare side

(05:09):
of things. And that's when I ended up doing my
PhD in basic biology, which then led me to working
in type one diabetes research. But outside of like laboratories science,
I love yoga. I am always in nature. You'll find
me talking to birds, hugging trees, so that's kind of
like my release. That's where I get inspiration as well,

(05:31):
and you know, just let go out there. Because it's
not all about research. I have to look after me
first as well to be able to kind of look
after the general public.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
I guess that's how I see it.

Speaker 4 (05:44):
I love to hear it. Yeah, I think that's so important.

Speaker 1 (05:46):
We can only give, you know, into our work, into
our passions when when we're kind of full of ourselves.

Speaker 4 (05:52):
And I love that.

Speaker 2 (05:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
The boundaries I think are so important, and taking care
of you in order to better serve whoever it is
that you're working with or working what you're working towards Yeah, amazing,
and I know naturally and of course your experiences in Zimbabwe,
particularly in the healthcare system and witnessing. Yeah, that has
kind of influenced and inspired a lot of the work

(06:17):
and a lot of the passion you have today. So
do you mind speaking to that a little bit for me?

Speaker 2 (06:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (06:22):
So, of course, the healthcare system in the West compared
to Africa is very very different. It's very inaccessible back
in Zimbabwe, so for me it was China. I'm trying
to find a way that we can share some of
the knowledge that we have here back home. So that

(06:43):
is my dream.

Speaker 2 (06:45):
One day.

Speaker 3 (06:45):
I want to be able to take whatever I've learned
to hear back home, because I know there is loads
of there's a disparity there. There's not enough information, there's
not enough doctors, there's not enough the technology isn't there,
it's not up to the standards that we see here.
So for me, I see that as a dream. So
I'm working obviously to help people within the UK, but

(07:08):
at the same time, I do want to take that
home because we're one. I think we're all one. So
if we're helping one country, where can't we help the
whole globe? Basically, So that is my mission. And I
think that's why I kind of use social media because
it does target everywhere, doesn't it. It reaches different countries.

(07:29):
So I've got platforms that linked to zimbabwere platforms that
are linking to Ghana Ganbiat all over even Asia. So
that's kind of the work that I'm doing on social media,
just trying to get somewhere so that I can become
like a global public health enthusiast.

Speaker 1 (07:45):
Yes, and I love what you say there about social
media kind of being one of these tools to democratizing
healthcare in terms of what is happening in one place
versus another place. Have you seen that in terms of
the reaction of the information that you are putting out
there that you are opening eyes or raising awareness to

(08:06):
these disparities. What's that response been like.

Speaker 3 (08:09):
So I actually started sharing the work that I do
on social media from January this year. Actually I wanted
to start last year, but I was just so nervous
putting myself out there, and then I thought, you know what,
how can I then bring change if I'm not putting
myself out there?

Speaker 2 (08:26):
So slowly, I've just been trying to walk in that.

Speaker 3 (08:29):
That, you know, make them uncomfortable comfortable. So when I've
been sharing on different platforms, particularly Facebook, that's where I've
got i think a lot of friends back in Zimbabwe,
and I feel like it does reach wider countries big pardon.
It does what it does kind of like reach different countries.

(08:50):
So I've had people from like Gambia coming to me
to say, like, thank you for sharing this information about
type on diabetes. My family has this, it runs in
their family. Can you more about this and that and that,
you know. So there's been questions related to the emaunotherapy
research that I've been doing, and more questions have been
coming my way from different people from different countries just

(09:11):
to say can you share more about this? You know,
how can we use this information from the UK in
our country. So it's been a really good, surprising engagement.
I didn't expect it. I expected to have maybe one follower,
one person engaging, but actually I've been quite amazing, quite shocking.

Speaker 2 (09:32):
Yeah, so it even makes me emotional thinking about it.

Speaker 1 (09:35):
Actually, Yeah, it's obviously something you're so personally connected to,
and I think it's incredible that you're using that to
try and bridge these gaps and knowledge is power, as
you say, and I think.

Speaker 4 (09:49):
You know, traditionally I can imagine that.

Speaker 1 (09:55):
Putting this kind of information out there, it's sort of
this guarded thing, you know, like as we spoke at
the beginning, like what is going on behind the doors,
and you're sort of now opening those doors on a
global scale. And like you say, if it's one person
that you know from your childhood who's getting that information,
like that is life changing.

Speaker 4 (10:14):
Has there been.

Speaker 1 (10:17):
Like talking about, you know, your fears about putting yourself
online and putting this information out there. Was it like
a bit of that that maybe held you back. I'm
just curious, sister, as to this world of medical science
research and how it kind of can be blended and
used on social media for good.

Speaker 3 (10:38):
Yeah, it does, actually, I think it does pan from Again,
in academia, we don't really this is not what we do.
We don't really do use social media. It's very foreign.
If you mentioned the word social media that you're trying
to talk about science, you're trying to talk about science
on social media platforms. The eyes that you get so

(10:59):
it becomes very unco comfortable. So you end up putting
it in the back, you know, And but it doesn't
work like that, does it? Because the world is moving forward.
Technology is a part of us, and I feel like
we all have to be able to adapt and you know,
get to terms with what is happening with the technology.
So I had to fight back and say, no, it
does work. Let me show you. Let me show you

(11:22):
how effective it is. Let me show you the questions
that are being you know, raised by people that we
can actually implement into the research itself. You know, it
doesn't have to be we think of the hypothesis. We
can utilize the information that you know, people are asking
as forms of hypothesis and aims. So that's how I
saw it, and I just continued to kind of share

(11:44):
with social media, build like metrics analytics that I then
took to the lab and said, look, it's effective. I
think we do need to use this. So yeah, it's slowly.
It's about shaking the room, isn't it, and making it
a norm, bringing those ideas to the table and just
sticking with it.

Speaker 2 (12:04):
And that's what I've done.

Speaker 1 (12:06):
Yeah, incredible, And as you say, when you flip it
like that and you're like, here are the people who
are impacted by this, and here are the people who
are not getting the information they need and actually these
people we can kind of speak to and connect with
to come back to the research to then create greater outcomes.
It's so full circles and yeah, incredible that you're paving

(12:27):
the way on that. You just to continue on this thread,
I want to pull it a little bit more just
to hear from your perspective, what may seem like a
silly question, but why is it important to make sure
from a genetic standpoint that a diverse group of people
are involved in the research.

Speaker 3 (12:46):
So there's a clinician called doctor Jean claudey Cat. It's
from Cameron. So he's been working on basically the genetic
side of things and his work basically he's looking at
Sub Saharan Africa, so he's comparing the genetic background of
people with Type on diabetes from sub Sahari in Africa

(13:10):
versus the West.

Speaker 2 (13:11):
So I think he.

Speaker 3 (13:11):
Particularly looked at Cameron and they notice that there is
a difference in the profile, the genetic profile. So some
of the tools that we're using to diagnose here, like
them they're typing, is not it doesn't work for people
in Africa. So if you're then going to use that
as a source or a tool to diagnose people. You're

(13:35):
probably missing people with type on diabetes and misdiagnosing them
maybe with type two or you know. So I feel
like Jean Clade has opened something up that has highlighted
there is a difference in the genetic makeup, even like
in the West, there is that difference is in there,
like we don't carry the same genetic makeup, so one

(13:56):
therapy might work for you or the other person and
it might not work for me, you know. So it's
about putting that into context into research and saying, actually,
there is differences, so we do need to increase the
diversity in the research. So we need more people who
Type one diabetes from different communities, different backgrounds, different races,

(14:16):
because actually there is a difference in how people are
going to respond to the treatments the therapies that are
you know, being researched in clinical trials. So yeah, that
that is why I'm very passionate about.

Speaker 2 (14:31):
Equity.

Speaker 3 (14:32):
And I feel like equity is such a big problem
at the minute because people aren't understanding what exactly is
equity and the importance of it. Yeah, and I feel
like it's important in the sense of like research because yeah,
the one one treatment is not going to work for all.

Speaker 1 (14:49):
Yeah, thank you for explaining that. And I think it
relates to kind of where you're moving through in terms
of your own career. And as I said, you're up
until recently you were working as a postdoctoral researcher in
type one diabetes and that is, you know what we're
digging into today. You are now working for Prostate Cancer

(15:12):
UK and you've switched from academia, yeah, into kind of awareness.

Speaker 4 (15:16):
So talk to me a.

Speaker 1 (15:18):
Little bit about that shift, but also how this equity
and the importance of equity transfers into all aspects of health,
into all aspects of different conditions.

Speaker 3 (15:29):
And yeah, yeah, I'd love to share that. I'll try
not to talk too much about Project Cancer because either
T one T.

Speaker 1 (15:38):
Health and people's needs and being you know, receiving health,
diagnosis and all of it. You know, cancer effects so
many of us as well. Yeah, go for it. Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (15:48):
So.

Speaker 3 (15:48):
The reason I even joining prosct Cancer UK was again
for the awareness side of things, and I was looking
for something that allows me to bring give back to everyone,
but as well as my own community, like as a
black woman, you know, it affects my brothers, my sisters,
and everyone. So I wanted something that allows me, yes

(16:09):
to give back to the general public and the community,
but I wanted to give back to people like me also,
and you know, the underrepresented communities. So with prose cancer,
the statistics are not in favor for black men. So
if you if you google this, it's it's on their websites.

(16:29):
So it's one in eight for general men, the general
population for men, and it's one in four for black men,
so it's double that. So automatically, I was like, Okay,
this is this is a big problem.

Speaker 2 (16:41):
Why is it?

Speaker 3 (16:43):
So we don't know why that's the case, but it
might be history, family, genetics, et cetera. So that then
linked in with Type on diabetes research because we were
also interested in increasing diversity and equity. Really fit in
very well, like because that's already the mission that we

(17:03):
were doing with type on diabetes in the research lab
that I was working in, we were trying to increase
diversity in our clinical trials just to make sure that
the therapies that we are testing, you know, they're effective for everyone.
And it fits in now with what I'm doing now
because I'm using social media to raise awareness. I'm running
events for you know, black men, I'm running events for

(17:25):
all men because again, this condition is affecting all men
are brothers, fathers, you know. So this is where equity
comes in entertain in my line of work now, so
to raise awareness for everyone, but also feeding back to
those communities that you normally wouldn't reach, that people wouldn't

(17:46):
normally reach. And I feel like it's important. I come
from a what do you call it, council estate, so
I see, I see the disparities, I see the gaps,
see the information that doesn't reach people that are in
these communities, and that doesn't sit right with me because

(18:08):
why is the axis being given to certain groups or
certain you know, certain areas. I don't know the word
for that, so I'm going to say certain groups and
then underrepresented groups are being left out because it's affecting everyone.

Speaker 1 (18:21):
You know.

Speaker 3 (18:23):
So that's kind of like how it all ties into play.

Speaker 1 (18:26):
Yeah, yeah, And how personally for you has it been
this shift to be able to build on the work
you were doing previously and now working in this world
and being so driven by this and actually being much
more connected to the people.

Speaker 2 (18:40):
It's been emotions, a roller coaster of emotions.

Speaker 3 (18:45):
Actually, it's been exciting because I get to do why
I've dreamt to do, you know, I get to give back.
I get to work in the charity and the mission
is for the people. So that part is exciting. But
then the part that saddens me is why is their

(19:06):
healthcare information that before are receiving so different? Why is
it so different? Why is it that one group gets
better treatments whilst I was just given whatever's on the table,
whatever is the quickest, I guess, is how I would
put it. So it's been in motion of your roller coasters.
I even cried on the first day where we had

(19:28):
men with early experience talking about their experience with prosit cancer.
So it's been it's been, Yeah, it's been nice, but
it's being like, okay, an eye opener, been an eye opener.

Speaker 2 (19:41):
But then it's.

Speaker 3 (19:42):
Driven me though, It's really like it's charged me up
because I'm like, okay, cool.

Speaker 2 (19:46):
Let's get it, let's let's work. Yeah, let's work.

Speaker 1 (19:51):
And I'm interested in terms of, as you say, like
the different things on the table and the there, how
what's the relationship like between as you see it between
diagnostics and tools, and then the communication of those tools.

Speaker 3 (20:14):
Ooh, it's not great. You mean in the communities that
are underrepresented, Yeah, yeah, Marginis communities, Yeah, not great. So
from some of the conversations I won't go into too
much detail, So from some of the conversation from and
then black men that have had proson cancer, they basically

(20:38):
state that they don't get given all the information that
is to be given. They don't get given different options
of treatment or radiotherapy. So you know, if you if
you don't know the information beforehand, then how do you

(20:59):
know what is there for you? You know, so if
you're not made aware like there's maybe radiotherapy, there's imuner therapies,
there's these different therapies that are available, then how do
you know what is best for you depending on like
what stage you're Obviously, but they're not being given this
information from beforehand. And this is some of the issues

(21:22):
that are on the table, I guess. So the mission
of PROSECANCA is to kind of implement different policies so
that we can better improve this, you know, the diagnosis,
treatment and so forth.

Speaker 1 (21:37):
Yeah, and speaking about lived experience and having touch points
with people who are living with whatever condition it may be,
whatever diagnosis it may be. How important in your mind
is it that researchers and people working behind the scenes
are in regular contact or communication with the people who

(21:58):
are living with these conditions.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
I think it's very important. There's been a lot of
interest and a lot of.

Speaker 3 (22:07):
Interest in using people, including people we've lived experience into research.
So the reason I even got interested in public engagement
is because of the lab that I was working in
with James Pearson on type.

Speaker 2 (22:23):
On diabetes similar therapies. So they were including people we've lived.

Speaker 3 (22:27):
Experience into their research and I thought, wow, I've never
seen this before, Like this is amazing. We get to
include people onto the panels, We get to include people
into the you know, deciding how the research goes. Is
this going to work for you or not? You know,
what do you want? So those are the questions that
we've been able to ask people we've lived experience and

(22:49):
gain more insight into actually the research that we're doing.
Is it useful or are we just wasting money? And
this is not what people we've lived experience want, you know.
So it's very important that people we've lived experience are
included into research. They call it PPI Patient and Public Inclusion.

(23:10):
That's the window that they've given for anyone that has
you know, lived experience and been included into research. So yeah,
there's a lot of there's a lot of work happening,
and charity's are pushing this as well. So we even
have like PPI groups that we can as SCIENTI researchers,
like when people now are applying for research funds, we

(23:31):
do ask are you including PPI, you know, because we
need to know what the people who've lived experiences want.
Are you doing it for the people or are you
just doing it for more grants? And it has to
be for the people.

Speaker 1 (23:45):
It's so fascinating, isn't it to think that this ever
wouldn't be included. I don't know if I'm just speaking
as someone who's so personally connected to living with the
health condition and you know, I'm viewing it through that lens.
But isn't there what it's Isn't this what it's all for?

Speaker 4 (24:02):
You know?

Speaker 2 (24:04):
These But it wasn't a thing, was it It was?
It wasn't a thing.

Speaker 3 (24:08):
It was more Also, the researchers and scientists think that
this is what you that people want until now we've realized,
actually we might be wasting money making all this fancy
new therapies, all these fancy new gadgets or smart machines,
you know, for smart pumps that no one wants, like

(24:33):
we might be complicating their research when actually people we've
lived experiences want as simple tool, as simple therapy, something
that is easy to use, something that's cheap and accessible.
So these are some of the questions that you do
gain from including people who lived experience into the panels.

Speaker 1 (24:52):
Yeah, incredible, And I spoke recently with someone who is
very immersed in the world of diabetes technology, and I
think it's easy to just assume that these technologies are
making people's lives easier, but actually there is a bit
of a barrier because they get more advanced. To kind
of even dive into a piece of diabetes technology, it

(25:12):
does take energy, it takes time, it takes mental kind
of investment. And when you're talking about information not being
disseminated equally or fairly, or there might be a language barrier,
things like this. This this all comes back to the
same thing about getting health care and access to health
care and treatments.

Speaker 5 (25:30):
To the people who need it, to everybody who needs
it right, I agree. So, you know with the smart
pumps and a question, butocks you you know, with the
smart pumps that are being developed, do they change? Do
they like you know, like a phone, it changes every
so often?

Speaker 2 (25:46):
Is that?

Speaker 3 (25:46):
Is that how it is with like there's there's smart pumps,
the incident pumps, et cetera.

Speaker 4 (25:51):
Do you mean in terms of do they keep iterating?

Speaker 2 (25:54):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (25:54):
Like, how how do you stay you know, up to
date with every change that's happening. Does it not affect,
you know, the way you use it that you have
to keep learning something?

Speaker 2 (26:06):
If that's the right way to ask that question.

Speaker 1 (26:08):
No, I think this is a really interesting exchange because
I'm using it as kind of your every person. What
I want from this tool is for it to make
my life easier so that I can think about diabetes
less and get on with my life. But like we're
in the world now where you're right, we're talking about
things like software updates as opposed to going back to

(26:29):
your clinic every four years from a UK perspective at least,
and asking for a new pump, having that particular pump
training and then being on your way with that for
the next four years. Okay, suddenly you're getting software updates
and you're like, okay, but and I'm someone rightly or wrongly,
who's like, unless this thing is about to explode in
my hand.

Speaker 2 (26:50):
Fine.

Speaker 1 (26:53):
And rightly or wrongly again, I have faith that this
software release is coming out because it's going to help me,
right And it might be, like you say, a feature
that I actually don't care for. I don't need something like,
for example, putting meal types into my insulin pump.

Speaker 2 (27:11):
My meal is very.

Speaker 1 (27:13):
Too much every single meal, every single day for me
to kind of save that. But I know for other
people that is absolutely incredible because it saves them those
extra food clicks. If they've got a toddler and they're
trying to give themselves a bowlus and the toddler is
asking for their attention, they can just press one button
as opposed to five buttons like things like that. It's interesting,

(27:34):
Does that answer your question?

Speaker 2 (27:35):
It does? It does?

Speaker 3 (27:37):
Because I was reading something from them. So I was
invited onto a group chat, a t one D community
group chat, as a researcher, but just to kind of
gain insights into actually what is te D what does
the community.

Speaker 2 (27:54):
To talk about? You know?

Speaker 3 (27:55):
So some of the things that came up that shocked me. So,
for example, fly in when you're flying, you can it
can miss dose.

Speaker 2 (28:05):
It can miss you know, miss dose.

Speaker 3 (28:07):
Yes, And I was like, really, and it can also
glitch with like the change in the you.

Speaker 4 (28:12):
Know, the yeah, the cabin pressure.

Speaker 1 (28:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (28:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (28:17):
So for me that it's something I would have obviously
never would have thought about. But just reading that from
the group chat, I was like, oh my gosh.

Speaker 4 (28:24):
Yeah, it's true.

Speaker 1 (28:26):
And actually that is something I personally experienced a lot.
And it's scary because I don't know how much extra
insulin is in my system. But suddenly I know I
am very very hypo and trying to get off a
plane and everyone's barging around and like shoveling sugar in
my mouth.

Speaker 4 (28:43):
This is a real lived experience.

Speaker 1 (28:46):
Yeah, it's so fascinating these little things. And actually for
you to be curious to the extent that you're asking
those questions is honestly so heartening and thank I'm just
like so grateful that there are people like you in
this world who are driving to make things better for everyone.

Speaker 4 (29:05):
Yeah. So I don't know if I really answer to
your question that.

Speaker 2 (29:09):
I'm just a curious head I like to know.

Speaker 1 (29:12):
I like to know, but I think this curiosity is
what you know at the end of the day is
going to drive research because what you're doing in research,
correct me if I'm wrong, is asking questions and trying
to solve problems and find solutions.

Speaker 4 (29:28):
Right, So that starts with curiosity. Would that be fair
to say?

Speaker 3 (29:31):
Yeah, yea, it starts with curiosity and that openness to
receive the information, you know, because there's no there's no
point in having curiosity if you then don't receive the
information very well. I'm just like, no, I'm not interested
in that.

Speaker 1 (29:44):
It doesn't fit my hypothesis.

Speaker 4 (29:50):
Oh my gosh, the days of like confirmation bias. I
just got like a GCS slash brag.

Speaker 2 (29:56):
Then I'm so sorry, No, no, I do this is great.

Speaker 4 (30:01):
Well, you're expanding my mind.

Speaker 1 (30:02):
This is exactly why I wanted to speak to you,
because when you're going through a condition or living through.

Speaker 4 (30:09):
It is your day to day.

Speaker 1 (30:10):
But these are broader scope, bigger picture things, which actually
maybe brings me into if we talk about type one
and broad strokes. I think when we think about research,
a lot of people's minds does jump to a cure.
I mean I was diagnosed in nineteen ninety six, and
it was like the first thing, one of the first

(30:31):
first things that was mentioned to me, like, you know,
it's going to be a few years, it's not far away, etc. H.
Let me think about this in my mind. It's not
something I think about on a day to day. I'm
now twenty nine years in and I'm living with this thing.

Speaker 4 (30:46):
But I'm wondering.

Speaker 1 (30:48):
People, of course, are desperate for a cure for whatever
it is they're facing.

Speaker 4 (30:53):
Do you think, just from the experiences you had in
the world of type one and what you know, it's
realistic for us to pay attention to messages about cures
right now in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 2 (31:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (31:06):
So again it goes back to how different we are.
Each person is different. Each person's going to so the
therapy is going to respond differently, each person's going to
respond differently. Right, So a cure, I don't think there
can be one single cure. It might be ten different cures.

(31:29):
But then it's the cost of actually implementing and designing
and actually getting the funds to get these cures, because
how many cures do you need? If we're talking about
the variability that you know, each each person's different. What
might work for me might not work for the next person.
So that cure might be good for me, and it's
only going to serve me. But then that's so expensive,

(31:53):
isn't it. So it's about access the cost. Who is
the cure going to be for? So I think it's possible,
but I think it's difficult. As you've mentioned yourself, they
told you ten years from now, you know there'll be
a cure, but you're talking about what thirty years?

Speaker 2 (32:12):
Did you say?

Speaker 4 (32:13):
Yeah, last week of last week?

Speaker 2 (32:17):
Oh, happy diversity. I just wanted to.

Speaker 1 (32:22):
Say that she knows, she knows you've got the language,
you are in this community.

Speaker 2 (32:30):
I am in it.

Speaker 3 (32:33):
So, yeah, the cure is difficult. It's a very difficult
one because of that, all.

Speaker 2 (32:41):
The new information that's coming up.

Speaker 3 (32:42):
Yeah, because if you're talking about you know when I
mentioned about the genetic makeup versus sub Saharan Africa versus
the West, So then how do we actually implement the
cure if we're talking if we're seeing such a difference
even in the genetic makeup and the responses and the
expense that he was going to pay for this, Because

(33:04):
there might be a cure but can we all afford
this cure?

Speaker 1 (33:10):
This episode of Type one on one is sponsored by Insult,
the makers of omnipodtube free insulin pump therapy. I've personally
used POD therapy to manage my type one diabetes for years,
and using omnipod five automated insulin delivery has improved my
diabetes management significantly with less diabetes decisions and of course

(33:32):
no multiple daily injections. How well Omnipod five automatically adjust
my insulin every five minutes to help keep me in range,
allowing life outside of type one diabetes to get bigger.
If you want to know more, head to omnipod dot com. Obviously,
the section of research that is focused on a cure

(33:54):
is absolutely important, and I think as we're talking about
tech and things in the meantime, what has been researched
on and what has been developed, unquestionably, speaking from my
own personal experience.

Speaker 4 (34:07):
Only has made life better.

Speaker 1 (34:09):
So I'd love to hear a bit about the research
that you were involved with. You touched on it there,
but focused on the circadian rhythm and as it relates
to type one diabetes therapy. Yeah, like I would love
for you to kind of open up that world as
to what you were working on.

Speaker 3 (34:27):
Yeah, so I was working in DoD Cy James Person's
lab working on immino therapies, so we were focused on
just increasing I don't know how much to go into this.
I'm trying to make.

Speaker 2 (34:45):
This so late.

Speaker 4 (34:49):
As lay as Carle.

Speaker 3 (34:53):
So the circadian rhythm is basically your twenty four hour
body clock. So it's things your sleep, your hormones, cortisol,
all that stuff. It changes throughout the day. So we
were interested in looking at the twenty four hour body
clock because actually there's been research that's shown that there

(35:14):
is a difference in your immune system at different times
of the day. So I know, obviously with type on diabetes,
there's an immune attack. Your your immune system is going rogue.
There's an immune attack that is causing your T cells,
so I call them your killer T cells to attack
your beta cells, so the interlin producing cells.

Speaker 2 (35:36):
And that changes throughout the day.

Speaker 3 (35:39):
So in the morning or the evening, there might be
differences in the proportion of your killer T cells and
these things called your bodyguards, so the bodyguards are trying
to control the killer T cells. But there's a decrease
in people with type on diabetes. You don't have enough bodyguards.
You've got a lot of killer T cells that are
attacking your insulin producing cells. Body cards are kind of struggling.

(36:02):
So the bodyguards are called Tea Raggs. Just in case
someone asks.

Speaker 1 (36:07):
This is like an action movie. To me, this is
how science should be explained.

Speaker 2 (36:13):
Literally that so I'm hurt. I'm hurt. So what we've
seen is we were studying mice.

Speaker 3 (36:23):
More. We were looking at mice because they are easier
to study because of the access of the pancreas. It's
too it's so embedded behind you know, other organs, your
stomach to be able to study this in human so
it's very difficult to do this in humans, so we
use small animals. We tried to use as small as

(36:45):
much as little as possible because again, you know, they
are living. So we saw that in mice, in the
morning there's more cult was in the evening there's a reduction.
So we were trying to find that. Thats to say, Okay,
if we give immune therapies, can we increase those bodyguards

(37:06):
when they are at the lowest and what time of
day is ideal for that? So that's kind of the
scope of the research that we're working on. So it's
still currently happening. They're still actively working on this, so
their data isn't really out there yet, but they have
shown that actually it does work by targeting different times
of the day.

Speaker 1 (37:26):
So is this with a view too slowing the progression
of the development of type one diabetes?

Speaker 3 (37:31):
Yeah, yeah, so it will be particularly so the way
I look at this is, so say you're newly diagnosed
and you've still got your beta cells, You've still got
some beta cells that are working, and you're still producing
enough insulin. How can we preserve that? How can we
reduce that immune attack from those killer teo cells. How

(37:52):
can we slow down the killer two cells from attacking
those into and producing cells. And this is one possible way,
looking at the time of day and giving the immunotherapies
at the time where maybe your killer T cells are
too loud, and then you want to bring your bodyguards afloat,
you know, so that they can stop the bodyguards. The
bodyguards can stop the killer T cells from attacking your

(38:15):
producing cells.

Speaker 1 (38:16):
Is it hilarious for those of you watching on YouTube.
I've had some amazing action demonstration here. No, this is perfect.
This is exactly how I think people can you know,
be engaged with what it is that they're dealing with
on it on a whole other level, because I mean,
the reason I started writing so many years ago was
because I realized, more than ten years into my condition,

(38:40):
how much my hormones were impacting my blood glucose levels,
and that had never been explained to me. I think
it's very different now, gratefully, but it was very much
given to me. As in managing your diabetes like this,
this equation of this food and this incident equals your
stay in range. We know that is so far from

(39:01):
the case. And once I understood the emotional aspects of
type one diabetes, and absolutely as it pertains to things
like a cycle, a monthly cycle, but also just stress
levels and time of day as you say, and this
is as someone living with the condition whose bodyguards.

Speaker 4 (39:20):
Have long since packed up. Sadly they've gone home.

Speaker 2 (39:24):
I've gone home.

Speaker 3 (39:28):
And just to add even so, obviously the aim is
not just to help people with that are newly diagnosed,
but also want to, you know, help people that have
long standing type one diabetes. So it could be things like,
for example, I know there's a lot of work in
stem cell therapies and there's working different different There's so

(39:50):
much work that's happening right now that you can even
use immuno therapies for example. The work that we were
doing is a combination as a combination therapy, you know,
so it can be utilized in different ways. You can
obviously target maybe they newly diagnosed, but you can also
utilize it as a combination with other different therapies that

(40:12):
are there and use that to you know, try and
get that balance in your immune system. Because again, it's
your immune system that is causing this big blow. You know,
it's causing immune attack. So how can we still help
immune system to not just attack? Like, how can we
just make it so comfortable that it's not attacking even

(40:33):
if you are long standing, Like how can we still
preserve whatever beta cells you have, or if you've had
like any other therapy, how can we improve your immune
system so that it's not attacking.

Speaker 1 (40:44):
Yeah, and we've seen that conversation kind of move into
the world of screening and prevention. It's a really interesting
point there where you talk about the blend of different research.
Do you find or is your experience or has your
experience been that labs are collaborative? Is that I think I.

Speaker 2 (41:05):
Knew you were going to ask for That's why I laughed.
I knew where you were going with this.

Speaker 4 (41:15):
Okay, tell me more.

Speaker 3 (41:21):
The collaboration is not the best, it's improving. I was
actually surprised by them Type one diabetes research world in
the UK, particularly in the UK, the collaboration that I
witnessed was amazing, especially when we went to conferences, different people,
different groups working on different things. We're coming together as

(41:43):
one to say like we're working on this, but we
can actually use this and this and this, because at
the end of the day, we've got an assist problem
with the immune system attacking. So actually, why should I
develop something if the immune system is still going to
attack this thing that I've developed. Actually, I need you
to work with me because I need you to help
the immune system whilst I developed this thing. So there's

(42:06):
been there's been a shift in collaboration, but it's not
always been the best. I think it can be better.
I think the problem is to do with funding. Is
to do with funding, so that brings competition, and that's
where you know, that's where you have a lack of
collaboration because of fears maybe of oh you might take

(42:27):
my research, you know, or you might do it better
because you've got a bigger lab, you've been doing research
for many years, maybe junior. So those are some of
the things that I think make collaboration difficult. But it
is improving.

Speaker 1 (42:41):
And are you heartened by the improvements in terms of
do you think people are seeing that when you do collaborate,
actually there is a lot less to be fearful of
than perhaps the perception of the thing versus the reality
of the thing.

Speaker 2 (43:00):
Can you extend that question, which.

Speaker 1 (43:02):
Yeah, I think it sort of comes back to what
we were talking about at the beginning in terms of
like lifting the lid on social media even like I
think historically people work in their worlds and their expertise,
and I'm someone who works in social media, so I've
seen kind of both ends of the good and bad
that it can bring. But in terms of when we

(43:25):
share information and when we share expertise and when we
share knowledge, I think historically maybe there's been so much
concern about that. So the thing the reasons you've articulated
their competition and things like that, but actually when it
comes to it. We've seen so much growth in various reasons,

(43:46):
just taking social media as an example, because that is
a world I understand. Do you think that that has
translated just from what you've witnessed in the conversations you
might have been privy to in terms of greater collaboration
and the outcomes that are potentially possible through that collaboration.

Speaker 2 (44:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (44:05):
One, because so imagine this. I I work in maybe
let's say imminology, but I don't understand genetics. So how
can I have a research that requires that genetics side
of things if I am an imminologist, So that means
to make this easier for me, to make this research

(44:28):
move faster, I might need to collaborate with someone that's
working in genetics. I might need to collaborate with someone
that's working in statistics or someone working in stem cell therapy,
and together we can make the research that was going
to take ten years two years. So that's that's how
I think the shift and that's what people have realized. Actually,

(44:49):
we're wasting time by working on your own learning new
skills that you could just ask someone to help you.
You know, you can put you can now include people
into research into your research proposals and say I don't
well I don't have this tool, but this person does.
I think they're happy to collaborate with me so we

(45:12):
can make this research take two years rather than ten years.
So I think that's been the shift that I've been seen,
especially from the lab that I was working in. James
Pearson amazing at collaborating. He will use all the different resources.
I've not seen anything like this before, but I was
clapping for him genuinely.

Speaker 2 (45:31):
I was like, I love this.

Speaker 3 (45:33):
Thank you for opening this for me and actually allowing
me to see this, because, like yourself, you probably don't
see the collaborations that happened. I wasn't seeing that as well.
But yeah, walking in that lab really open my eyes
that actually there is people that care. There are scientists
that do you want this collaboration because it makes it
faster to get to the end, Yeah, which is the

(45:55):
goal essentially.

Speaker 2 (45:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (45:56):
Yeah, and of lifting the lid.

Speaker 1 (46:01):
I'm curious as to whether there's a typical day in
the life of a researcher, or maybe a typical lab day, like,
can you give us a glimpse into what that involves?

Speaker 3 (46:13):
Okay, so a day in the lab is very different.
So when I was working on the Cicadian rhythm, the
project to do with the Cicadian rhythm, I had to
work hours that are unfriendly because you are looking at
the Cicadian rhythm. So I would come in at maybe
six am to study, you know, to make sure that

(46:36):
I'm collecting the data at the right time. So you
might come in at six am, I know, my colleagues
are coming in at one am, twelve, twelve am, seven pm,
you know. So that's kind of the work that we
were doing, so coming in at very unsociable hours because
that's the work that we needed to do, and that

(46:56):
day could maybe last twelve hours because of the personarticular experiment.
So it's not to say that every experiment is twelve hours.
It can be even twenty minutes, it can be one hour.
But the work that I was doing required me to
work twelve hours because of the length of the protocol,
so that the experiment itself just took that long. So

(47:18):
I would walk in, get my lab on, and I
would get my samples process them. And the reason I'm
processing these samples is because the mice would have receive therapy,
So we wanted to know what actually is happening to
your immune system? Are we actually improving the bodyguards or
are we not doing anything at all to your bodyguards?

(47:38):
Are we uplifting your bodyguards and slowly reducing those killer
T cells. So that's kind of like the experiments that
I would do. Yeah, so that was the day in
the lab. And then once you've done the experiment, it's finished,
you collate the data. You go on this beautiful machinery
that you just kind of put the numbers in there

(47:58):
and it does the job for you. And then you
have to take that data, that raw data, and make
it into something that's meaningful. So things like when you
see like figures like maybe a Bard chart that's telling
you twenty percent increase in bodyguards or ten percent decrease
in killer tea cells, these are just random numbers, by
the way. And then if you want to present it

(48:19):
to conferences, depending on whether you're presenting to specialists or
the general public, because we have been presenting to people
we've lived experienced, so you have to fit it to
the you know, the audience. Is it going to be
science y or is it going to be more schematic?
And that's how I kind of got used to talking
about science using things like bodyguards, killer tea cells. Yeah,

(48:42):
because my mission is for the people, so my audience
is for the general public and people with experience, so
you have to fit it to that. So that's kind
of like a day a day or two of a lab.

Speaker 4 (48:56):
Yeah, super fascinating.

Speaker 1 (48:58):
I'm like, so curious about the humanness of science and
taking this data, as you say, and making it connect.
And is there a particular like coming into the world
of type one diabetes. I'm curious, is there a particular
example of hearing some lived experience that really kind of

(49:20):
stuck with you or affected you in terms of focusing
you in the lab?

Speaker 4 (49:26):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (49:27):
Yeah, there is. Actually, so.

Speaker 3 (49:30):
My neighbor, my neighbor has a child who's three, who
has Type on diabetes, so it's literally next door to.

Speaker 2 (49:40):
Me, you know. And I remember when I.

Speaker 3 (49:44):
Got this job, when I applied for researching type on diabetes,
and then my mom was telling me because I wasn't
living I wasn't living in Birmingham at that point.

Speaker 2 (49:52):
So when my mom told me, oh, you.

Speaker 3 (49:54):
Know, our neighbor has a child, we've lived experience, and
instantly that kind of like I was like, what just
next door.

Speaker 2 (50:03):
I had a chat with them.

Speaker 3 (50:05):
I had a little conversation with them, and some of
the things that they shared, the struggles that they are experiencing.

Speaker 2 (50:12):
So this is the mother, she's had to basically go
to is it what is it? Nursery school when you're three.

Speaker 6 (50:21):
Yeah, so she's had to actually take time out of
her day to go to school because no one was
able to you know, look after him the way he
should be looking after because again maybe the information isn't there,
the training isn't there, so you can't really expect the

(50:42):
teachers to be able to monitor.

Speaker 3 (50:45):
A three year old who is, you know, experiencing type
on diabetes. So the mom actually took time away from
her day to go to school to make sure that
when he's eating lunch, you know, he's not he's not
eating the wrong thing, and this money his monitors correctly.
So that really touched me that actually someone has had

(51:06):
to maybe stop work to look after their child because
again the knowledge isn't actually available to all.

Speaker 2 (51:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (51:17):
So that touched me, and that set up with me
and then yeah, I think we've then just conversations with
just people in the streets when they ask what do
you do you know, the conversation comes up and you
then hear, oh, yeah, I've got type one diabetes or
I know someone in my family that has type one diabetes.
So there's been those conversations that I've had with the

(51:39):
general public on social media that has been kind of
like that that drive for me.

Speaker 1 (51:45):
Yeah, yeah, have you been surprised by how many of
us are out there?

Speaker 4 (51:51):
Yeah, lurking away?

Speaker 2 (51:53):
Actually I was just yeah, it's just it's there.

Speaker 3 (51:56):
But you don't hear about it, do you. You don't
really hear about it. It's only when you go on
social media and you've got you know, podcasts like You're
the podcast that you are sharing the information that you're sharing.

Speaker 2 (52:08):
That you see.

Speaker 3 (52:09):
Actually, there's there's a lot of people that I liven
with type one diabetes. Some of them aren't comfortable to
talk about it because of the taboos the stigmas around it.
So for me, my my drive is can we remove
those taboos for everything?

Speaker 2 (52:25):
Help?

Speaker 3 (52:25):
Can we remove taboos and stigmas because it's hurting us,
it's absolutely hurting us.

Speaker 1 (52:34):
Yeah, it comes back to communication again, doesn't it, Which
does Yeah, it's a powerful thing. Is I'd like to
talk a bit about the patients required in research and
whether and how you reconcile that long term goal that

(52:54):
maybe months years away and what you're doing on a
day to day basis.

Speaker 3 (53:00):
It's you have to have a lot of patience because
you might have an idea, right, you've got a hypothesis.

Speaker 2 (53:06):
You want this to work, you want a result. You
don't really want a negative result. But in science, sometimes the.

Speaker 3 (53:17):
Work that you do actually surprises you and you get
a different result and it might not be what you expected,
and you have to know how to adapt to that
because sometimes even the negative result is something. It is
a result, and you just have to learn how to
utilize that information that Okay, it's not gone the way
we want it, so maybe let's turn left instead of going,
you know, straightforward. So you have to have that kind

(53:39):
of patience that actually it might not always work and
it might take a different route in my detour, it
might turn right.

Speaker 1 (53:50):
And how do you kind of check your ego not
you personally, but you know, if you're putting your heart
and soul into a research project, I can imagine if
it does go that way, are like, oh, we're turning
right now.

Speaker 4 (54:01):
Like you have to kind of take your pride out
of the picture.

Speaker 2 (54:05):
Yeah, how you do? For me, I just it is
what it is.

Speaker 3 (54:13):
That is, that is the that is what's there, you know,
that's on the table. I don't like to stress myself
because again, stress is not a good thing. It's also
a driver of autoimmune diseases, you know. So for me,
I've just learned how to not take things too personally
and just work with it as it is.

Speaker 2 (54:32):
So if the result is surprising, okay, cool, let me
sleep on that. I'll come back to that, maybe even
two days later.

Speaker 4 (54:42):
We'll have a thing.

Speaker 3 (54:43):
Now.

Speaker 2 (54:43):
I think that's about it.

Speaker 1 (54:44):
That's so relatable to people living with type one diabetes
who are listening, because we live the consequences of our
decision making and our hypothesis. You know, we have to
put that into action every diabetes decision, every day, every hour,
you know, and a lot of the time it doesn't
go the way we kind of hoped. So, you know,
sometimes it's pride, sometimes it's needing a bit more compassion.

(55:08):
But you're right, especially in relation.

Speaker 4 (55:10):
To stress, it's a key piece for me.

Speaker 1 (55:14):
I'm curious because you brought it up there in terms
of as a person not living with type one but
just your own relationship with stress as you mention it
there and bringing it and keeping it separate from your work.

Speaker 4 (55:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (55:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (55:26):
So when I was doing my PhD, it was the
most It was difficult. I won't go too much into
the details, but it was a difficult PhD and I
ended up stressed to the point that my period wasn't
normal anymore. You know, I was skipping months. I was
going months with no period, which was very unusual for

(55:47):
me because my flow is quite good. But I didn't
know what was going on, and I just thought it
was a break. And initially I was excited. I was like, yay,
not that, not realizing it's stressed induced. It was stress induced.

(56:07):
I started clotting, and you know, it's only when I backtracked,
actually what happened?

Speaker 2 (56:14):
Why has it changed? What was going through?

Speaker 3 (56:16):
So I had to do a research on myself. Being
the research, I am to backtrack, Actually, what's going on
because this isn't normal. And then I even went to
the GP, I had tests. I was everything was fine
because I thought maybe it was end of my troces.
I thought whatever was going on with me was maybe
end of my traces, but it wasn't. Once I came

(56:39):
out of that environment and started working on myself. Once
I realized actually it was stress induced. I then started
working on you know, going outside more releasing, not you know,
not keeping things internally talking about it, just sharing on Instagram,
just randomly just saying I'm sorry, guys, I'm gonna overshare today,

(56:59):
but I need to really. So those are some of
the tools that I've been using to kind of shake
off this stress because I know I don't have Type
one diabetes, but I was driving myself into something that
I didn't know was happening, you know, on the inside,
because you don't see it, do you, And you just
take it as if it's normal until it's too late

(57:22):
and you've walked yourself into an autoimmune disease or you've
you know, something has risen because of stress.

Speaker 2 (57:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (57:31):
And I don't know this as someone who is just
living my life, but I do think a lot of
us are operating in that way and we don't realize,
you know, all these factors and all these stresses and
challenges that are being thrown at us all day and
how we're iterating and handling them and adapting. I've had
to kind of bring myself into awareness around that, and

(57:51):
I actually think type one diabetes has potentially helped me
with that because I see the result in my blood sugars,
I see the glucose levels rising. To your point about
being your own researcher on yourself, that is something that
I personally have found to be very beneficial, not just
in relation to type one diabetes, but my whole life

(58:14):
and my lifestyle. Just understand who I am, what I need,
what I'm triggered by, and what I can actually eliminate
to the point like getting out in nature is one.

Speaker 4 (58:25):
Of the most helpful things I could do one diabetes
or not.

Speaker 3 (58:31):
Like knowing yourself and yeah, it's important because it can
save you from something you know and you don't need
to stress.

Speaker 2 (58:41):
Life is too short. Life is too short.

Speaker 3 (58:44):
So sometimes you would catch me hugging a tree. I've
had I've had strangers join me with tree hugging before
I've even apologized to them because I know it's not normal, Like, well,
it is normal, but it's been Society has made it
seem like it's not a normal thing.

Speaker 2 (59:02):
You know.

Speaker 3 (59:02):
That's a creeping strategy for me, but society has shaped
it as if it's you're crazy. So I remember I
was hugging this tree in Cardiff and these two women
with their dog walked by. Is she hugging a tree?

Speaker 2 (59:16):
And I was like, oh gosh, So I apologized instiday.
I was like, I'm so sorry. I'm just hugging a tree.
It feels good.

Speaker 3 (59:24):
And then the woman said can I join? And then
we were just hugging this big tree as three people
in this tree. It was the most amazing experience and
I loved it. And they walked away saying she made
my day. I think she blessed my day.

Speaker 1 (59:43):
Oh my gosh, you have blessed my day.

Speaker 2 (59:48):
I would tell you that.

Speaker 4 (59:50):
I just think we need more of this.

Speaker 1 (59:53):
We need like you're so driven and you're so heart led,
but there is clear work to be done and you're
not afraid to that on. You're not afraid to break
down these barriers around social media or these conversations that
are so important. And thank you as well for sharing
your own kind of health personal experiences as well. Yeah,
I think this has been so valuable for people. Big

(01:00:16):
question to end on if that's okay. Yeah, you're someone
who's working in a world where you see a lot
of health concerns a lot of you know, problems, very
real problems in relation to health.

Speaker 4 (01:00:27):
Do you feel like there is hope?

Speaker 3 (01:00:30):
Yeah, yeah, hundred percent. I feel like there is hope
because it starts with awareness, isn't it If you're aware,
you can you know, you move better. If you know
and you know how to advocate for yourself, you move better.
Because I do know the healthcare system is it's struggling
at the minute, and things are you know, it's challenging.

(01:00:51):
But if you go in there with awareness and awareness
starts from just having that access, maybe from social media,
maybe from just reading. Yes, I think there is hope
because it starts with you. It starts with me. It
starts with me knowing and knowing how to better muse.
So yeah, there is hope, but it starts with us.

Speaker 4 (01:01:12):
Amazing I think.

Speaker 1 (01:01:13):
I mean, I've got so many power as from you today,
like awareness, curiosity, I hope you know, like just yeah,
thank you so much for sharing You're welcome, your insight,
your expertise, and your energy with thank you and for
dedicating your life to making other people's lives better.

Speaker 2 (01:01:32):
And that.

Speaker 4 (01:01:36):
Is hope to me for it. And here's some more
tree hugging.

Speaker 3 (01:01:40):
I know we can do that.

Speaker 2 (01:01:41):
After this session, we'll do a virtual one. Yeah, we
can do it.

Speaker 1 (01:01:49):
I would love it if you could tell people where
they can find you if they do want to follow
you on this journey.

Speaker 3 (01:01:54):
Sure you can find me on Instagram. I am using TikTok,
but very new to TikTok, but I'm enjoying it so far.

Speaker 2 (01:02:02):
And my name is the same in all platforms. It's
doctor dot Pider, your faith scientist.

Speaker 4 (01:02:12):
Yes, doctor Pider, you are my fave scientists.

Speaker 2 (01:02:16):
Love that.

Speaker 4 (01:02:17):
Thank you so much for speaking to me today.

Speaker 1 (01:02:20):
I've absolutely loved this and You've given me so much
to think about and I've learned a lot, So thank you.

Speaker 3 (01:02:25):
I'm goad thank you for inviting me. And this was
lovely and yeah, I'm grateful for the opportunity to be honest. Yeah,
to share and to hear from you also, and just
to meet you virtual.

Speaker 1 (01:02:38):
Wonderful And this is the cool thing about these these
challenges that we're all facing, and as you've said many times,
like communicating about them, having conversations and the awareness like
it does bring.

Speaker 4 (01:02:49):
People together and that is a very special thing.

Speaker 2 (01:02:51):
So I love that. Yeah, thank you so much.

Speaker 4 (01:02:54):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:02:55):
I hope you enjoyed this episode of Type one on one.
Please remember then, nothing you hear on this podcast should
be taken as medical advice. I'm definitely not a healthcare professional.
If you like what you hear, hit subscribe and do
leave a little review on iTunes if you have time.
It really helps to spread the word about type one diabetes,

(01:03:17):
and thank you so much for listening.