Alberta Diabetes Institute Awards

Two Surgery Department graduate students have won Alberta Diabetes Awards for their research presentations. Their supervisor is Dr. James Shapiro who discovered the pancreatic islet transplantation therapy for Type 1 diabetes: The Edmonton Protocol.

Drs. Kevin Verhoeff's presentation was Comparative evaluation of outcomes following extrahepatic and intraportal pancreatic islet transplantation. He explains "This is the largest comparative evaluation of the graft survival and glycemic outcomes following extrahepatic and intraportal pancreatic islet transplantation. This information will help inform islet transplantation techniques to optimize outcomes for future patients and achieve even greater success with the Edmonton protocol."

Dr. Braulio A. Marfil-Garza's presentation was Pancreatic islet transplantation: 20 year outcomes at the University of Alberta.

He says what this mean is that this is the largest long-term report on clinical outcomes following islet transplantation. With this information, we hope to provide robust evidence to guide clinical practice, optimize resource allocation and, ultimately, improve patient outcomes.”