Portraits of Diabetes

The Alberta Diabetes Institute marked its 10th anniversary by unveiling a series of portraits of people living with diabetes.

The poignant black-and-white Portraits of Diabetes by U of A photographer Richard Siemens now line the halls of the Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Research Innovation.

By putting diverse faces to the disease, Portraits of Diabetes offers a glimpse into the highs and the lows of life with diabetes. With one million Albertans living with diabetes or prediabetes, the images speak to the importance of ongoing support for diabetes research.

The photography project was made possible through collaboration and support from Alberta Diabetes Foundation, Alberta Diabetes Institute and the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry.

See the award-winning photos at uab.ca/POD.

Decade of diabetes research progress traces back a century

"There's always been a rich history of diabetes research in Edmonton at the University of Alberta, dating all the way back to the early 1920s and the work of James Collip, a local biochemist who purified insulin," said Peter Light, director of the Alberta Diabetes Institute.

The city's name was officially put on the world's diabetes research map in 2000, with the development of the Edmonton Protocol, an internationally recognized procedure that implants insulin-producing islet cells into the liver of a person with type 1 diabetes, often allowing for insulin independence.

Ray Rajotte, founding director of the Alberta Diabetes Institute and professor emeritus of surgery and medicine, laid the crucial groundwork for the Edmonton Protocol, now the gold standard for islet transplantation.

Today, under one roof, more than 65 principal investigators from diverse fields study the complexity of diabetes. While their research projects are diverse, all Alberta Diabetes Institute members share the same goal: to improve the lives of people with diabetes and to find a cure.