Passage to India: Q&A with Estelle Everett, MD, MHS

Fresh from receiving a 2022 Endocrine Society Early Investigator Award, Estelle Everett, MD, MHS, was a member of this year’s Dimensions in Diabetes program that took place in Mumbai, India, in August. She talks to Endocrine News about that program, her own research, and how the award has impacted her career.  

In August 2023, the ninth installment of the Dimensions in Diabetes program that took place in Mumbai, India. Sponsored by the Endocrine Society and CME Mediquest, this year’s program covered such topics as preserving kidney function in type 2 diabetes; diabetes related emergencies; pediatric type 2 diabetes; concurrent treatment of obesity and diabetes; and much more. The program also featured a master clinician session, immersive clinical science session as well as talks on best practices, panel discussions, and a series of interactive case studies.

The featured faculty included Endocrine Society members Jonathan Q. Purnell, MD, from the Oregan Health and Science University in Portland, Ore., who served as the program’s chair; Philip Zeitler, MD, from the Children’s Hospital Colorado and the University of Colorado, Aurora; Leigh Perreault, MD, University of Colorado Hospital, Aurora; Donna H. Ryan, MD, from the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La.; Janet B. McGill, MD, MA, FACP, from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo.; Ketan Dhatariya, MD, MS, FRCP, PhD, from the Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital in Norfolk, England; and Estelle M. Everett, MD, MHS, from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA in Los Angeles, Calif.   

Everett, an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research, is an early-career Endocrine Society member and her session was entitled “Type 2 Diabetes Management: Intensifying Treatment for Optimal Glycemic Control,” that focused on the phenomenon of clinical inertia, “which occurs when there is failure to intensify one treatment regimen despite suboptimal glycemic control,” she says. “This is an issue that occurs all over the world, including in India.”

We have a lot of the same challenges when it comes to managing our patients with diabetes. While we practice on different sides of the world, in different types of healthcare systems, when it comes to trying to get our patients to be optimally controlled, we share some of the same clinical challenges

Estelle M. Everett, MD, MHS, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, Calif.   

Her lecture was a case-based presentation that focused mostly on intensifying type 2 diabetes management when insulin is indicated and “reviewed data comparing various intensification strategies, pros and cons of different diabetes drugs, and the importance of shared decision making when considering how to intensify a patient’s regimen,” she tells Endocrine News.

Everett took time from her busy schedule to tell Endocrine News more about the Dimensions in Diabetes program as well as how receiving the Endocrine Society’s 2022 Early Investigator Award has impacted her research and her career.

What surprised you the most about the Dimensions in Diabetes conference from talking to the other endocrinologists you met while in Mumbai?

We have a lot of the same challenges when it comes to managing our patients with diabetes. While we practice on different sides of the world, in different types of healthcare systems, when it comes to trying to get our patients to be optimally controlled, we share some of the same clinical challenges (e.g., time constraints, patient-related barriers, treatment costs, etc.).

How important are programs like Dimensions in Diabetes in terms of reaching out to endocrinologists from other countries?

These programs are essential because it is very important to have opportunities for clinicians from various backgrounds to collaborate, exchange perspectives, and learn from each other.

In 2022, you were one of the recipients of the Endocrine Society’s Early Investigator Award. In the intervening year since then has receiving the award further helped you in your career?

I was very grateful to be a recipient of the Early Investigator Award, and I believe this award has brought recognition to my research program and field of study. The monetary award was very helpful and assisted me with the purchase of some national inpatient data that allowed me to perform several studies looking at the impact of diabetes on inpatient admissions (e.g., diabetic hyperglycemic hyperosmolar syndrome (HHS), diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), L&D admissions).  

When you talked to Endocrine News about your research last year, you told us that you were exploring and addressing barriers to care in vulnerable populations with type 1 diabetes, with a particular interest in the inequities in both the access and use of diabetes technology. Can you give us an update on your research, or on any new areas you’re currently studying?

I continue to focus on this area. Since being awarded the Early Investigator Award, I received a National Institutes of Health K23 Career Development grant to evaluate the use of hybrid closed loop insulin pumps in patients with type 1 diabetes with A1c greater than 9% in an academic and safety net setting. This is a population in which technology use is understudied and underutilized but has the potential to have great benefit. I have also expanded my research to study another understudied population when it comes to diabetes technology: patients with type 2 diabetes who have Medicaid insurance, including those who are primarily Spanish-speaking.  I hope both my work in type 1 and type 2 diabetes will be used to inform policy and change prescribing culture surrounding diabetes technology and improve outcomes in these vulnerable populations with diabetes.

I hope both my work in type 1 and type 2 diabetes will be used to inform policy and change prescribing culture surrounding diabetes technology and improve outcomes in these vulnerable populations with diabetes.

Estelle M. Everett, MD, MHS, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, Calif.   

When it was first launched in November 2015 in Chennai, India to coincide with Diabetes Awareness Month, Dimensions in Diabetes was created as a way to deliver cutting-edge diabetes education to endocrinologists throughout India from a largely U.S.-based faculty. Nine years later, the program has become one of the Endocrine Society’s most popular international educational summits. And while it has been a blessing for many India-based endocrinologists, it has also proven to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for an early-career member such as Everett to share her knowledge with her endocrinology colleagues around the world.

Newman is the Executive Editor of Endocrine News and has been with the Endocrine Society since 2013. He wrote the ¡Viva la Endocrinologia! roundtable in the October issue.