For years, the UCSF Diabetes Teaching Center’s clinical team, led by Dr. Martha Nolte Kennedy, envisioned creating an online educational resource for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. As one of the country’s oldest diabetes education programs and a pioneer in the development of intensive self-management regimens, the clinical care team members have been concerned that their limited resources could not effectively support the masses of individuals living with diabetes. As the rate of diabetes increased in the United States — far faster than the number of dedicated diabetes providers — the clinical team’s frustration grew. Innovative solutions were definitely needed to help support this growing population and, naturally, Dr. Nolte Kennedy and her team looked to the Internet for answers.
Thanks to the generous support of a number of Bay Area individuals and foundations, Dr. Nolte Kennedy’s dream of an online education resource has become a reality. If you are reading this page, chances are you have already viewed sections of this website. Within the year, we hope to have other diabetes education modules up and running.
With Special Thanks
We deeply appreciate the following Bay Area individuals and foundations who underwrote this project. Their visionary support will help make a difference in the lives of individuals living with diabetes, and their loved ones.
- The Joseph Drown Foundation
- Robert and Michelle Friend
- The Koret Foundation
- The Bernard Osher Foundation
- Elana Weinstein
- Will Weinstein
For more information on how to support the ongoing development of Diabetes Education Online, contact Emily Wozniak, Emily.Wozniak@ucsf.edu, 415-745-0079.
Who are we?
Current Team
- Sarah Kim, MD
Medical Director of the Diabetes Teaching Center - Krystal Kobasic Bjuhr RN, MS, CDCES
Program Coordinator - Hazel Cross, RN, CDCES
- Linda Parks, RN, MS, CDCES
- Talya Kurzion, RD, CDCES
- Sherri Shafer, RD CDCES
- Lisa Kroon, PharmD CDCES
- Michael German, MD
- Umesh Masharani, MD
- Marina Demetsky, LVN
Former Team
- Martha Nolte Kennedy, MD
Former Medical Director, Diabetes Teaching Center - Marlene Bedrich, RN, MS, BC-ADM, CDE
Former Program Coordinator, Diabetes Teaching Center - Peggy Huang, RN CDE
Sarah Kim, MD
Dr. Sarah Kim, MD is the Medical Director of the Diabetes Teaching Center.
She obtained her undergraduate degree in Biology and minor in Women’s Studies at UC San Diego. In 2000 she moved east to attend medical school at Tufts University. Sarah then returned to California to attend a Combined Internal Medicine and Pediatrics Training at UC Los Angeles.
While her intention was to become a primary care doctor for kids and adults, she was drawn to diabetes care. This interest was sparked by memorable connections with patients diagnosed with diabetes, the joy of teaching and the patient bonds that formed through learning about patient’s lives in order to help strategize the implementation of diabetes self-management successfully. She pursued an Endocrinology Fellowship at UCLA, completing this in 2010. She then went on to complete the UCSF Advanced Diabetes Fellowship in 2010-11 focusing on diabetes management in the adult, pediatric, pregnant and hospitalized population. In 2011 she joined the UCSF Faculty at Zuckerberg San Francisco Hospital and ultimately became Director of the Adult Diabetes Clinic working to optimize diabetes care in the Safety Net population.
Dr. Kim accepted the role as Director of the UCSF Adult Diabetes Clinic in late 2018 where she works with the cadre of nurse educators, dietician and physicians to continually improve our care.
Krystal Kobasic Bjuhr RN, MS, CDCES
Krystal Kobasic Bjuhr is the Program Coordinator for the University of California, San Francisco Diabetes Teaching Center. She serves as an instructor in the Diabetes Workshops, as well as sees patients individually in the Teaching Center consulting on Diabetes self-management. Krystal comes from an extensive background in Cardiothoracic Surgery, working in the Intensive Cardiac Care Unit and Mechanical Circulatory Support Service at UCSF since 2003, earning a Daisy award in 2013. She became interested in Diabetes when her husband was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes one year into dating. Krystal went on to complete a Diabetes Nurse Fellowship with UCSF and obtained her CDE in 2015 and in 2019 transitioned to the Diabetes Teaching Center.
Krystal received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Michigan in 2003 followed by a Masters in International Management, Economics and Policy from Universita Bocconi, in Milan Italy in 2005. Following her Masters she worked in Ecuador supporting the rebuilding of the Healthcare Infrastructure in the border region with Peru followed by Chagas Disease Research. She is proficient in and loves speaking Spanish. Upon return to the United States she continue with her focus on the Advanced Heart and Lung Failure population and as well as worked as a Consultant and Educator with the San Francisco Tuberculosis programs.
Hazel Cross, RN, CDCES
Hazel Cross serves as one of the instructors of the Diabetes Workshops and classes. She also consults with patients individually in the Diabetes Teaching Center for training in diabetes self- management.
Hazel received her RN from the Bryn Mawr School of Nursing in PA. She has had a long career in Emergency Nursing, but changed her specialty to diabetes after her son was diagnosed with type1. She taught at other facilities in SoCal and Hawaii, before joining the team at UCSF.
Linda Parks, RN, MS, CDCES
Linda Parks is a registered nurse and certified diabetes care and education specialist (CDCES) in the Diabetes Teaching Center at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center, where she provides diabetes self-management education individually and is an instructor in the group workshops.
Linda earned her nursing degree at the New England Deaconess Hospital School of Nursing in Boston, MA and a Master’s Degree in Nursing Science &HealthCare Leadership from the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at the University of California, Davis.
She is passionate about using new technologies and data management systems to improve the lives of people with diabetes and to enhance professional oversight of diabetes-related care.
Parks’ research has focused on remote options for teaching people to use diabetes care technologies – an interest that predated the coronavirus pandemic and rise of Zoom. She has co-authored papers on using human factors (a term used to describe the interactions between humans and systems or environments) to develop safer and more intuitive diabetes care technologies. Her aim is to develop accessible resources to assist people with diabetes in leading healthy, full lives.
Talya Kurzion, RD, CDCES
Talya Kurzion is a Registered Dietitian and Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist (CDCES) in the outpatient diabetes specialty clinics at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center, where she provides nutritional counseling and diabetes self-management education. She is an instructor for the Diabetes Teaching Center workshops and provides individualized nutrition and diabetes management counseling.
Prior to joining the Diabetes Teaching Center, Talya worked at Sutter Health with adult and pediatric patients with diabetes. She taught diabetes self-management classes and provided one-on-one counseling in a shared medical appointment setting with Endocrinologists.
Talya Kurzion received her Bachelor of Science degree in Nutritional Sciences from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She received her Master of Science degree in Human Nutrition and completed her Dietetic Internship from The Ohio State University.
Sherri Shafer, RD CDCES
Sherri Shafer is an instructor for the Diabetes Teaching Center and does one-on-one counseling sessions in the outpatient diabetes clinic at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center Parnassus Campus. She also works in the Diabetes and Pregnancy Program at the UCSF Mission Bay Campus.
She is a Senior Registered Dietitian and certified diabetes educator and she has provided nutritional counseling and diabetes self-management education at UCSF since 1992. Sherri has also lectured extensively to medical professionals and public audiences on the topic of diabetes self-management. In 2016 Sherri received the PRIDE award for demonstrating professionalism, respect, integrity, diversity, and excellence in her career at UCSF. In 2005 she received the Excellence in Teaching Award through the Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators. Sherri is the author of Diabetes and Carb Counting For Dummies (2017 Wiley Publishers) and Diabetes Type 2 Complete Food Management Program (2001, Prima Publishing/Random House).
Sherri Shafer received her BS in Nutrition and Dietetics from the University of California at Berkeley.
Lisa Kroon, PharmD CDCES
Dr. Lisa Kroon teaches pharmacy classes at the University of California, San Francisco Diabetes Teaching Center workshops.
Dr.Kroon, currently, is a Professor and Executive Vice Chair of the Department of Clinical Pharmacy in the School of Pharmacy at the University of California in San Francisco. She practices in the UCSF Diabetes Clinic and General Medicine Clinic, where she cares for people with diabetes and chronic illnesses. Dr. Kroon is working with community pharmacies to develop pharmaceutical care programs that increase pharmacists’ accessibility, allowing them to enhance the care they provide to patients. She has made important contributions to the Diabetes Education Online website. Other areas of research include inter-professional education and the development and dissemination of a tobacco cessation curriculum to pharmacy and other health professional schools.
Dr. Kroon received her Doctor of Pharmacy at the University of Michigan followed by two years of residency at UCSF and is a Certified Diabetes Eductor.
Michael S. German, MD
Michael German, MD teaches classes on research advances and the genetics and development of diabetes at the University of California, San Francisco Diabetes Teaching Center workshops.
Dr.German is a Professor in the Department of Medicine at UCSF, the Justine K.Schreyer Chair of Diabetes Research, the Clinical Director of the UCSF Diabetes Center, Director of the Hillblom Islet Genesis Network and the UCSF NIH Diabetes and Endocrinology Research Center (DERC), and a Principle Investigator in the Hormone Research Institute. He cares for patients at the UCSF Diabetes Clinic and hospital wards, teaches medical students, and lectures at the UCSF Diabetes Center¹s patient self-management training courses while maintaining a basic research laboratory investigating diabetes at the most basic level. The central focus of Dr. German¹s research program is the pancreatic beta-cell, the cell in the pancreas that makes insulin. He is interested in the genes that control the development of the beta-cells from stem cells. He is also interested in where these processes break down in diabetes, and in how to translate our knowledge of the beta-cell into novel strategies for curing diabetes.
Dr German received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University, and medical degree from the Southwestern Medical School. His residency training was taken at the University of Arizona and fellowship in Endocrinology and Metabolism at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. German is board certified in Internal Medicine and Endocrinology and Metabolism.
Umesh Masharani, MA(Oxon) MBBS(Lond) MRCP(UK)
Umesh Masharani is Co-Chair of the University of California, San Francisco Diabetes Teaching Center Annual Patient Symposium.
Dr. Masharani is a Clinical Professor of Endocrinology and Metabolism in the Department of Medicine, UCSF. He has an active clinical practice treating patients with diabetes and other endocrine disorders. Dr Masharani also is a Co-Investigator on a number of NIH funded diabetes studies at UCSF. His research includes studies evaluating the effect of chromium and alpha lipoic acid on insulin resistance, and anti-CD3 antibodies on new onset type 1 diabetes and multi-ethnic studies addressing the interactive relationships among disease management, glucose control and depression in patients with type 2 diabetes. As a member of the UCSF Islet Transplant Group, Dr Masharani assists in managing diabetes of patients admitted to UCSF for islet transplantation evaluation. He has recently published a book “Diabetes DeMystified” (McGraw Hill 2007).
Dr. Masharani attended Oxford University and received his medical degree from Middlesex Hospital, London. He is board certified in Internal Medicine and Endocrinology and Metabolism.
Marina Demetsky, LVN
Marina Demetsky is the Administrative Assistant for the University of California, San Francisco Diabetes Teaching Center.
Marina Demetsky coordinates scheduling for individual appointments and group classes and provides classroom support. She is a Licensed Vocational Nurse and is fluent in written and spoken Russian. She also provides administrative support for the Diabetes Education Online website project.
Former Team
Martha Nolte Kennedy, MD
Prior to retirement, Dr. Martha Nolte Kennedy served as the Medical Director of the University of California Diabetes Teaching Center.
Dr. Kennedy was a Clinical Professor of Medicine and Co-Director of the Diabetes Insulin Pump and Diabetes Clinics. She began working in the field of Diabetes at the University of California, San Francisco when she was a “Dorothy Frank Diabetes Fellow” and divided her time between clinical research trials, seeing patients, and training the students. Her research examined the safety and clinical effect of novel therapies to treat diabetes and prevent complications. Clinical responsibilities included seeing patients in the Diabetes Teaching Clinics, Faculty Practice, and in the context of the UCSF Diabetes Teaching Center. Expanding availability of diabetes self management education for patients was a major interest and commitment; Dr. Nolte Kennedy led the development of the Diabetes Teaching Center “Diabetes Education Online” website.
Dr. Nolte Kennedy attended Wellesley College, and received her medical degree at the Medical College of Pennsylvania. She received internship training at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, and residency training at the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Endocrine and Metabolism (Diabetes) fellowship training was taken at the University of California, San Francisco. She is board certified in Internal Medicine and in Endocrinology and Metabolism.
Marlene Bedrich, RN, MS, BC-ADM, CDE
Prior to retirement, Marlene Bedrich served as the Program Coordinator for the University of California, San Francisco’s Diabetes Teaching Center. She also was one of the principal instructors for the workshops and saw patients in the Diabetes Clinic for individual consultation in diabetes self-management training.
Additionally, Marlene Bedrich was the Program Organizer for the annual DTC Patient symposiums. She made significant administrative and content contributions to the “Diabetes Education Online” website. In 2007, she was recognized with the Ambulatory Nurse of the Year award.
Marlene Bedrich received her degree in Nursing from Saskatchewan, Canada; she also has a Master’s Degree in Health Services and is a Certified Diabetes Educator.
Peggy Huang, RN CDE
Peggy Huang co-founded the Diabetes Teaching Center at the University of California, San Francisco in 1977.
Peggy Huang was part of the original team to implement the concepts of intensive diabetes self-management in Northern California in 1974. She has helped to establish other teaching programs and is a mentor to nurse educators in many other countries such as Taiwan, Singapore, and Japan as well as those in the San Francisco Area. From 1978 – 1992 she was the Coordinator and principal instructor for the Diabetes Teaching Center. Peggy Huang is an active advocate for educating Asian Americans with diabetes in the Bay Area. She is fluent in Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese dialects.
Peggy Huang is a graduate of the Presbyterian School of Nursing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and is a Certified Diabetes Educator.