Diabetes Spotlight: Jay M. Sosenko, MD—Diabetic Neuropathy and Prevention Strategies for Type 1 Diabetes

For a career in diabetes, Jay Sosenko was in the right place at the right time.He had just started a fellowship in adolescent medicine at the Children's Hospital Medical Center in Boston when he heard about a new breakthrough making waves in medicine.The attending physician in the adolescent diabetes clinic, Dr. Kenneth Gabbay, discussed a new test for individuals with diabetes that he and others were developing."He included me in that research," Sosenko says, "which resulted in the HbA 1c test, a quantum leap in improving the ability to assess overall glucose control."Sosenko was subsequently the lead author of several early papers involving HbA 1c .Sosenko grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia.He always enjoyed participating in sports and was a member of his high school basketball team.When he was 18, Sosenko was hospitalized after a car accident."That was my first real exposure to doctors in a hospital setting," he says."Soon after that, I began to consider going into medicine."After earning his medical degree from Temple University, Sosenko completed his residency in internal medicine at University of California, Los Angeles.He later received a master's degree in epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health, but it was his exposure to diabetes during his adolescent medicine fellowship that led to his clinical and research focus on type 1 diabetes.For many years, Sosenko has been professor of medicine, pediatrics, and epidemiology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.Much of his clinical and research activities have been performed within the Diabetes Research Institute at the University of Miami.His research has had two main areas of focus, the first being diabetic neuropathy."Specifically, I examined methods for quantitating the degree of sensory loss," he says."These methods, termed quantitative sensory tests, are now common in helping to prevent foot ulcers, infections, and amputations."He used one of those tests to find that, surprisingly, taller individuals with diabetes were more likely to have sensory impairment in their lower extremities.