Weekend for Women Conference Background and Q&A

 

 

 

AGENDA

Saturday, May 22

5:00- 6:00pm Registration/Check-In

5:00-10:00pm Complimentary Massage in Sweet Suite By Appointment

6:00-7:00pm Welcome Dinner & Socializing

7:00-9:00pm Planned Social Activities



Sunday, May 23

6:30-7:30am Creative Exercise: Belly Dancing or Tai Chi

8:00-8:50am Breakfast & Keynote Presentation Nicole Johnson, Former Miss America

9:00-9:50 Breakout Sessions

-Pregnancy/Panel Discussion or

-Menopause/Panel Discussion

10:00-10:50am Breakout Sessions

- Working Matters or

- Nutrition

11:00-11:50am Women, Diabetes & Sex: What No One Else Talks About 

12:00-1:00pm Luncheon (Group Presentations via Video)

1:15-2:00pm Breakout Sessions

- Healthy Coping or

- Writing: The Forgotten Self-Help Therapy

2:15-3:00pm Taking Steps to Reduce Your Risks

3:15-4:00pm Healthy Body Image

4:15-5:00pm Secrets of the Longest Living People with Diabetes

5:00-5:30pm Closing Remarks from Founder, Brandy Barnes

2010 Weekend for Women Conference Presenters

 

Saturday 6 p.m. Welcome Address

Sunday 5 p.m. Closing Remarks

Brandy Barnes, MSW is the Founder/Executive Director of DiabetesSisters.  She received her undergraduate degree in psychology and her master’s degree in social work with a concentration in health settings from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  She gained experience in both the nonprofit and for-profit worlds through her work in diabetes clinical research (UNC Diabetes Care Center), nonprofit/volunteer management (American Cancer Society), and diabetes medical sales/marketing (Sanofi-Aventis).  Her areas of interest include women’s issues, mind-body connection in disease management, and peer support models.  She is a member of the North Carolina Diabetes Advisory Council.  She has lived with diabetes for 20 years and is the mother of a five-year old daughter.

 

Sunday 10 a.m. Nutrition

Constance Brown-Riggs, RD, CDE is a New York State Certified Dietitian Nutritionist where she served as a past president of the New York State Dietetic Association.  She is a national spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association and was named the Association's Diabetes Educator of the Year in 2007.  She is also the author of Eating Soulfully and Healthfully with Diabetes, a guide for African-Americans with diabetes to prepare and enjoy traditional ethnic food from the American South and the Caribbean. Her new work, The African American Guide To Living Well With Diabetes takes a body/mind/spirit approach to daily self-care.

Sunday 1:15 p.m. Writing – the Forgotten Self-Help Therapy

Carole Calladine, MSSA, LISW is a gifted gamily life educator and workshop leader.  She received her master’s degree in social service administration from Case Western University and her undergraduate sociology degree from the State University of Iowa.  She is the author of three books.  Her latest book, Second Story Woman, chronicles her experiences with Type 2 diabetes in the second half of her life.  She is currently the Director of Senior Services at Rocky River Center in Rocky River, Ohio.

 

Sunday 4:15 p.m. 50 Secrets of the Longest Living People with Diabetes

Sheri Colberg, PhD is a professor of exercise science at Old Dominion University (Norfolk, VA) and adjunct professor of internal medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School. She is nationally known in the diabetes community as an author of eight books (including Diabetic Athlete's Handbook and 50 Secrets of the Longest Living People with Diabetes), lecturer, and funded researcher. A mother of three sons, she is a recreational diabetic athlete living well with type 1 diabetes for over four decades.

 

Sunday 8 a.m. Breakfast Address

Nicole Johnson, MA, MPH, Miss America 1999, is a Telly award-winning television journalist and an avid writer. Her articles on living with diabetes have appeared in Guideposts Magazine, Diabetes Forecast, Diabetes Health, and USA Today.  She has written four books including her autobiography, Living with Diabetes.  Over the last ten years, Nicole has helped to raise over $26 million for diabetes research and programs.  In 2008, Nicole received the Charles H. Best Medal for Distinguished Service in the Cause of Diabetes from the American Diabetes Association, as well as being named a Legacy Laureate for the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.  Most  recently, Nicole was appointed the Director of Education and Outreach for the University of South Florida Diabetes Center.

 

Sunday 2:15 p.m.  Taking Steps to Reduce Your Risk

Diana McNeill, MD is an endocrinologist and Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Medicine at Duke University Medical Center.  She is a member of the American Diabetes Association and the Endocrine Society.  Her Research interests include Combination Therapy in Type 2 diabetes, Diabetes and Pregnancy, and Intensive Insulin Therapy.  She has won a number of teaching awards, including the Eugene B. Stead Teaching Award given by the Duke Housestaff and the Master Clinician Educator Award, Duke University Medical Center, 2006.

 

Sunday 1:15 p.m. Healthy Coping

Rhonda Merwin, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University Medical Center and an affiliate in the Duke Institute for the Brain Sciences.  She is an expert in the use of Acceptance Therapy (ACT) and is currently leading grant-funded research on the use of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) in the treatment of disordered eating and body image disturbance.

 

Sunday 3:15 p.m. Healthy Body Image

Michelle Pearce, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Duke University Medical Center Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.  She received her PhD from Yale University.  She is trained in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), behavioral medicine, and mind and mind-body medicine.  Dr. Pearce works with clients dealing with emotional and behavioral issues including depression, anxiety, eating disorders, chronic pain, and existential-related distress.

Sunday 10 a.m. Working Matters

Sabrina Rockoff, JD is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law and is currently employed by Kilpatrick Stockton Law Firm in Raleigh, NC.  She specializes in defending employment discrimination lawsuits, advising on employee relations issues, and representing employers on union matters.  She has recent experience counseling clients regarding issues under the Americans with Disabilities Act, Age Discrimination Employment Act, Family and Medical Leave Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act.

 

Other Conference Contributors

 

 

Laura Bennett, MA is a former Pregnancy blogger and Type 1 blogger on the DiabetesSisters website and currently serves as the Blog Manager for DiabetesSisters.  She earned her master’s degree in Education from the University of Califormia at Santa Cruz.  She has lived with Type 1 diabetes for 13 years and has experienced three successful pregnancies in the past six years.  She is a busy wife and stay-at-home mom of a six-year-old, four-year-old, and two-year-old. (Pregnancy Panel)

Shandra Botts was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 8 in 1977.  She has the unique experience of having a biological DiabetesSister who is 4 years younger than her.  Her sister’s diagnosis came eight years after her diagnosis.  Shandra is married and has a seven year-old son.  She is employed at American Institute of CPAs in Durham, NC as a production administrator and volunteers as a newsletter coordinator for DiabetesSisters. (Pregnancy Panel)

Alice P. Cooper, RNC, OGNP is a Clinical Associate in the Department of Community and Family Medicine at Duke University Medical Center.  She is also the Chair of the Blue Jean Ball Fundraising Committee.  Alice has lived with Type 2 diabetes for many years. (Menopause Panel)

Connie Hanham-Cain, RN, CDE currently serves as the Diabetes Resource Coordinator for Visiting Nurse Service of Schenectady and Saratoga Counties in upstate NY.  She was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at the age of 8 and has served as a teacher of energy healing and transpersonal counseling and creative movement belly dance instructor.  (Belly Dance Instructor)

Judith Jones-Ambrosini has served on the Boards of Diabetes Exercise and Sports Association (DESA) and the American Diabetes Association (ADA), New York Affiliate.  In 2004, she received the “Lilly for Life” Achievement Award.  She is currently working on a book of real life stories of woman athletes with diabetes called The Sisterhood of Diabetes. She has lived with Type 1 diabetes since 1961. (Tai Chi Instructor)

Jennifer Perkins, MD experienced gestational diabetes during both of her pregnancies.  She has the unique experience of being a patient with gestational diabetes as well as being an Endocrinologist who treats gestational diabetes.  Jennifer is a faculty member of the Division of Endocrinology at Duke University Medical Center. (Pregnancy Panel)

Mary Pruiett (Menopause Panel)

Gary Scheiner, CDE, has lived with Type 1 diabetes for 25 years.  He earned a BA in Psychology from Washington University in St. Louis and a Master of Science in Exercise Physiology from Benedictine University.  He received his diabetes training with the Joslin Diabetes Center.  He serves as a Board of Directors Officer for the Diabetes Exercise & Sports Association and serves on the faculty of Children with Diabetes.  He is an active volunteer for the ADA, JDRF and Setebaid Diabetes Camps.  He owns and operates Integrated Diabetes Services, a private practice located just outside of Philadelphia specializing in intensive blood glucose control for children and adults.  He and his staff are now dedicating a part of the practice to the management of pregnancy in Type 1 diabetes.  You can read his expert column on pregnancy and diabetes on the DiabetesSisters website at www.diabetessisters.org. (Pregnancy Panel)

Jennifer Thompson, MD (Menopause Panel)

Kathy Thompson (Menopause Panel)

 

Marketing Team 
Marci Williams
Laura Ely
Markee Flint
Michele Huie

Speakers and Sessions Team
Susan Chappell-Witt, MPH, MA, RD, CDE
Camille Izlar, RD, CDE, BC-ADM, CPT

Spa Night Team
Kelli Viscosi

Giveaways Team
Loretta Alford
Dawn Paffenroth
Megan Wilder

Logistics
Brandy Barnes, MSW
Markee Flint
Susan Totten, RD

Finance Team
Brandy Barnes, MSW
Jennifer Stallings, RD, CDE