Diabetics Doing Things Podcast

Melissa Slemp has lived with type 1 diabetes for 44 years — since she was diagnosed in 1982, before glucometers, before CGMs, back when insulin came from vials and syringes and "boiling your needles" was still a recent memory for a lot of people. In this episode, we trace that whole arc: what early management actually looked like, the high-risk pregnancy she navigated in the 90s, and the moment —...

Rob was at ADA 2026 in spirit — armed with press access and a list of questions unrelated to the usual conference talking points. His first guest from that coverage is Jake Leach, Dexcom's new CEO, who took over the role on January 1st after 22 years at the company. This is Jake's first time on Diabetics Doing Things as CEO. It sounds like two people having a real conversation about what it means...

When mutual friends in the diabetes community kept telling Rob he had a doppelganger in LA, he figured they were exaggerating. Then he met Dylan Leonard — creative director, documentary filmmaker, college basketball player, type one diabetic, philosophy reader, world traveler — and yeah, the comparisons held up pretty well. Dylan was diagnosed at 15, having dropped 45 pounds before anyone realized...

Tyler Cook is a professional GT3 racing driver who has competed in some of the most grueling endurance races on the planet, the 24 Hours of Spa, the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, IMSA, and GT World Challenge Europe. He's also been living with type 1 diabetes since he was 11 years old. This episode gets into what it actually looks like to manage blood sugar in a fire suit, in a 130-degree cockpit, at 15...

Rob and Neil have been doing this a long time, long enough to get bored with the safe version of things. This conversation started as a Friday-at-5 PM debrief between two guys who've spent years making diabetes content, and it ended up going somewhere worth sharing. They talk about the trap of waiting until you've "figured it out" before helping anyone and why being in the middle of something is a...

Rob sits down with Dr. Gregory Dodell, an endocrinologist from New York City and one of the more honest voices in the diabetes space online. What starts as a conversation about why a doctor would bother making Instagram videos turns into something a lot more real, a candid look at what actually happens between patients and their providers, why those relationships succeed or fall apart, and what it...

What happens in the room when a therapist with Type 1 diabetes hears the same fear over and over, that everyone else has their numbers under control, and you’re the only one who doesn’t? Rob sits down with Christine Keown, a registered psychotherapist and T1D since age four, to have the conversation that doesn’t get nearly enough airtime. Recorded right in the middle of the Diabetes and Mental Hea...

Health insurance is one of those things that's genuinely important and genuinely confusing. When you're managing diabetes or any chronic illness, the stakes are a lot higher than for most people. One wrong plan choice can mean insulin coverage disappears, specialist visits become out-of-pocket, or you get hit with a bill you didn't see coming. Rob sits down with Dakota Myers, known online as The B...

Ten years ago, Hannah Hamlin came on the pod (Episode 8!) as a medical school student with type 1 diabetes trying to figure out how to manage blood sugar while surviving boards. She's back now as Dr. Hannah Parr, D.O., a physician with additional training in integrative medicine and diabetes education, and the conversation is a completely different one. This episode is about what happens after you...

Most of us know diabetes affects the body. Fewer of us talk honestly about what it does to the mind and what the mind does right back. In this episode, Rob sits down with Sam Tullman, co-founder and facilitator of Diabetes Sangha and a dedicated student of Rinzai Zen, for a wide-ranging conversation on mental health, mindfulness, and what it actually means to live well with diabetes. Not managing...

Exercise is one of the most recommended tools for living well with diabetes and one of the most complicated to actually start. In this episode, Rob sits down with Amanda Mueller (aka @bicepsandbolus), a certified personal trainer, corrections exercise specialist, and CPA who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at 26. Amanda's honest about the years she spent afraid to move her body after diagnosis,...

Rob Howe has lived with type 1 diabetes for 21 years. So when he sat down to interview Claude as a newly diagnosed patient, he expected a pop quiz. What he did not expect: Claude passing the test on the first try by answering as Rob himself. Because Claude thought it been hosting this show all along. This is Diabetics Doing Things Episode 348: Claude vs T1D — an experiment in AI health literacy, a...

Rob welcomes Dr. Nick Heath—an atmospheric scientist living with type 1 diabetes for 27+ years and known online as “The Breathing Diabetic”—to explore how breathing can become a practical lever for living well with diabetes. Nick shares his diagnosis at age 11 and how his “second diagnosis” moment came in his mid-20s when nutrition changes improved his control and opened his mindset to other tools...

Dr. Carol Johnston—Arizona State University nutrition professor and registered dietitian known online as “The Vinegar Lady”—joins Rob to break down what decades of research actually say about vinegar, blood glucose, and metabolic health. Johnston explains how her work began with an obscure 1988 rat study and led to a landmark 2004 Diabetes Care paper showing vinegar could blunt post-meal blood glu...

On episode 3 of Doing Well with Diabetes Season 2, Rob and Jyotsana Rangeen discuss the journey of living with type 1 diabetes, focusing on the challenges of stigma, the importance of community support, and the transformative power of advocacy. Jyotsana shares her personal experiences from diagnosis to becoming a prominent advocate, emphasizing the need for positive language and self-acceptance in...

Summary In this episode, two university presidents, Dr. Sally Kornbluth (MIT) and Ron Daniels (Johns Hopkins) join Rob to talk about adult-onset Type 1 (LADA), leading in high-performance environments, and the single most “practical” diabetes upgrade: making a friend with diabetes. What stands out isn’t prestige—it’s how candidly they describe the everyday realities: managing highs and lows during...

Episode 4 of Doing Well with Diabetes Season 2 features Kerry Murphy, wife and mother to multiple people with type 1 diabetes and founder of Follow T1Ds, who explains how her long, layered exposure to T1D—from her sister-in-law and husband to her niece and daughter—pushed her from terrified observer to frontline advocate. She describes the collision between modern diabetes tech (CGMs, pumps, data-...

Episode 2 of Doing Well with Diabetes Season 2 focuses on “Overcoming Stigma in Sports,” highlighting two elite athletes living with type 1 diabetes outside the traditional Western spotlight. In part one, Rebeca Jara, a Costa Rican pole vaulter, shares her diagnosis at age seven, the transformational impact of attending diabetes camp as a teenager, and the long process of learning how stress, food...

On episode 1 of Doing Well with Diabetes Season 2 Rob opens with a global nutritionist panel featuring three voices from three continents—Ravi Subramanian (India/Australia), Sally Anne Shirto (Zimbabwe/South Africa), and Marina Cavalin (Brazil). Each shares how diabetes shaped their lives, their careers, and the way they support others in their communities. The episode tracks the realities of type...

Summary In this special episode of Diabetics Doing Things, Rob Howe interviews Jordan Keltner, a participant from Netflix's Love is Blind Season 9, who shares his journey as a caregiver for his son with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D). They discuss the challenges of misdiagnosis, the importance of advocacy, and the impact of public awareness. Jordan also talks about his children's book series, "Dear Luca,"...

In this episode of Diabetics Doing Things, host Rob Howe sits down with Allan Coukell, Chief Government Affairs and Public Policy Officer at Civica Rx, to discuss one of the most significant healthcare developments in years: California’s announcement that insulin pens will be available for $11 each ($55 for a five-pack) beginning January 1, 2026. They unpack how CalRx and Civica Rx partnered to ma...

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this video should not be used for medical diagnosis or treatment or as a substitute for professional medical advice. Individual symptoms, situations and circumstances may vary. Sponsored by Abbott Summary In this conversation, Leigh Fickling shares her journey as a diabetes mom after her daughter Ava was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of three. She ref...

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this video should not be used for medical diagnosis or treatment or as a substitute for professional medical advice. Individual symptoms, situations and circumstances may vary. Sponsored by Abbott Summary In this episode, Rob Howe interviews Danica Collins, a long-time type 1 diabetes advocate, about her personal journey with diabetes and a recent experience with...

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this video should not be used for medical diagnosis or treatment or as a substitute for professional medical advice. Individual symptoms, situations and circumstances may vary. Sponsored by Abbott Summary In this episode of Diabetics Doing Things, Dr. Eden Miller discusses the prevention and treatment of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). The conversation emphasizes th...

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this video should not be used for medical diagnosis or treatment or as a substitute for professional medical advice. Individual symptoms, situations and circumstances may vary. Sponsored by Abbott Summary In this episode, Dr. Eden Miller discusses the concept of Euglycemic DKA, a condition that can occur even when blood sugar levels are normal. The conversation c...