Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes, Aristotle and the Jesuits – functional outcomes in childhood predicting adult sequelae

Arguably, the most important developmental outcome of childhood and adolescence is to grow a good brain. A stable supply of glucose is sine qua non for optimal brain development. Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is the exemplar chronic condition of childhood that disrupts blood and tissue glucose delivery. Thus, the assessment of cognitive, psychological, functional and morphological brain outcomes in T1D is apposite.

.

100 years of insulin at The Royal Children’s Hospital – pigs, pumps and pluripotent potential

One hundred years ago the first insulin injection was given at RCH. Overnight, type 1 diabetes went from a fatal to a ‘manageable’ condition. Since that time, diabetes management has developed and evolved to a point where in the near future it is hoped that exogenous insulin will represent a treatment failure rather than a therapeutic mainstay. This Grand Round will trace the history of insulin therapy and diabetes management at RCH, and discuss the likely direction of new therapies in the upcoming decades.

.

Now and then: The Children’s Hospital in a half century of development: Dr John Court and the development of Diabetes care, Adolescent health, and Community relationships

Several Grand Rounds in 2020, the 150th year of the Children’s Hospital, will highlight the development of services, some looking back and looking forward.  This opening Grand Round will review the innovations in diabetes, adolescent health, and links between the hospital and the community. Dr John Court was a paediatrician who had a key role in service development at The Royal Children’s Hospital from the late 1950’s to the 1990’s including research and clinical care.

.

“This is the first time I have felt like I fit in and not different than everyone else.” 70 years of diabetes camps at RCH – an odyssey in 4 parts

The RCH diabetes camps program is 70 years old this year and one of the oldest such programs in the world. Diabetes camp experiences are profound and are seen internationally as an integral part of paediatric diabetes clinical care. This program speaks to and of what is the soul of the RCH: a holistic patient and family centred approach that goes beyond clinical therapy within the walls of the hospital.

.