Fathi Abdelsalam founded AkibaH while he was finishing his graduate studies at Cornell University. The team committed itself to finding a way to improve the lives of people with diabetes after losing several of their loved ones to the condition and watching many others struggle with its complications. He is very passionate about developing solutions that have substantial social and economic impact. Fathi is a member of several entrepreneurial communities, including Techstars, Sprint Accelerator, Start-Up Chile, Jumpstart Foundry, Parallel 18, and Seamless IoT. He has an M.P.A. in Social Entrepreneurship and Economic Development from Cornell, and dual bachelor degrees in Industrial Engineering and Economics from Florida State. He is also a former senior-level Patent Examiner at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, where he was immersed in the latest, cutting-edge software and high-tech inventions. In his spare time, he loves to travel and explore, having visited all six habitable continents, and lived in Japan, Turkey, Colombia, Chile, and Puerto Rico.

Jakob Dahl Thomsen is co-founder and CEO of Dukada Ltd., a Danish company established in 2012 that produces add-ons for insulin pens. “Dukada” is a contraction of “Yes, you can” in Danish. The mission is to make life with diabetes easier, based on user experience. Jakob has been living with T1D for more than 40 years. Besides the present responsibilities for Dukada, he has worked both as independent lawyer and as diplomat for the Danish Foreign Service with postings on several locations around the world. User inputs from these changing environments have inspired the development of the Dukada products. A network of people living with diabetes contributes to the Dukada concept development. On the technical level, Dukada is assisted by, amongst others, experts connected to the Science and Technology Park at the Technical University of Denmark.

Amin lives with T1D since 2006, he is a solar energy engineer by training and a hardware expert by trade. After a frustrating accident in 2013, when his insulin was frozen in the domestic refrigerator, he became discovered a massive flaw in the way medications are stored and handled at home, and decided to found MedAngel to solve this problem. He is currently leading a team of engineers, pharmacists and designers to revolutionise the interaction patient-medication, and bring peace of mind to everyone.

Liam was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2002 and wants to develop low-cost solutions to improve health outcomes for people with diabetes through health behavior change. Liam founded Adelie Health in 2016 to use insights from behavioral economics to improve health outcomes for people with diabetes. Liam is close to completing his Ph.D. in health economics at the University of Aberdeen which investigates how behavioral economics can help us understand individual food choices. Liam now wants to apply these insights to build innovative devices to help people with type 1 diabetes. Liam has a BA in Economics and Sociology & Politics, and an MSc in health economics from the National University of Ireland, Galway.

Sigurjón Lýðsson’s father has been living with Type 1 diabetes for over 40 years, and Sigurjón noticed that his short term memory has been greatly affected, and increasingly so. His father has injected insulin in front of him, and 5 minutes later asked “Did I inject already? I can’t remember.” Then, in 2010, his father was diagnosed with lung cancer, which then spread to his kidneys, liver, and brain. When Sigurjón spoke to his doctors, they said the treatment might affect his short term memory. This drastically increased the anxiety for everyone in his family, as his insulin pens do not store the injections. Sigurjón started looking for a solution that would help his father, though nothing relevant existed. That’s where the idea of Medilync began. Along with a few colleagues, Sigurjón designed a concept and began working with providers, patients, and family members to verify its utility.

Johnnie J. Refvik a New Yorker and graduate of SUNY Buffalo has spent the past decade and a half growing his telecommunications company from a startup into a nationwide service provider for the largest wireless carriers.  In 2009, Johnnie learned he had become a Type 1 Diabetic after a tragic loss of a loved one.  After a few years of exploring different management techniques and utilizing every glucometer on the market, Johnnie found himself frustrated with the multiple supplies, meters, insulin pens and carrying kits. As an entrepreneur and a New Yorker, life has to be quick and easy and being a young diabetic with outdated technology and multiple supplies/kits didn’t make it so quick nor easy.  It was then he had the AH HA moment and developed The SugarCube. The SugarCube is a Bluetooth enabled glucose testing kit that supports insulin delivery and communicates with its SugarCube mobile app.  With The SugarCube Kit and App, he hopes to change the way diabetics manage their condition to improve their quality of life. He set out to make this change not only for himself, but also for the same people struggling to balance diabetes and everyday life.

Emily is a cofounder of Pump Peelz. After being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes 2010 and put on an insulin pump, Emily and her now husband, Scott, realized that the options to customize and decorate insulin pumps were limited. Together, they have worked since 2011 to create an entire line of custom fit graphics for diabetes medical devices. Their products are sold and worn by people with diabetes all over the world. Emily holds a BS in Graphics and Multimedia. Her greatest accomplishment, however, is her baby boy Oliver.

Sebastien Sasseville is an international keynote speaker, a TEDx speaker, and an endurance athlete. He speaks to corporations on change management, teamwork, peak performance, and leadership. Sebastien offers rigorous business content combined with inspiration, a truly unique mix. His impressive list of clients includes Dell/EMC, Johnson & Johnson, Hewitt Cat, L’Oréal, CIBC, Merck, and many more. Founder of Inc.spiration, he helps organizations to create and to maintain peak performance in changing environments.

Sebastien Sasseville is the first Canadian with type 1 diabetes to reach the summit of Mt Everest. In 2014, he faced the biggest challenge of his life: a solo run across Canada, a journey equivalent to 180 marathons in 9 months. His inner fortitude, key insights, and authenticity come from an ability to draw from lessons provided by seeking great challenges and to apply them to today’s most pressing and complex business concerns. His message connects with audiences worldwide from his exceptional storytelling, energy, and humor.

Christer Busch is an MD, PhD, and senior professor at The Department of Surgical Sciences at Uppsala University Hospital. He is also the inventor of the STEPIT pedal device, which allows your to activate your calf muscles while you sit. STEPIT has been studied in diabetic patients in collaboration with professor Kerstin Brismar and Dr Leon Jonker, UK as well as professor David Bergqvist, vascular surgeon, Uppsala University Hospital, Sweden. Busch specialized in urological pathology and was European Vice President of the International Society of Urological Pathology (ISUP)  1991-1997 President (ISUP), 1997-2002 Professor of pathology, University of Tromsö, Norway, 2002-2008 adjunct professor of uropathology, University of Uppsala, Sweden, 2013 Senior professor at the Department of Surgical Sciences University Hospital, Uppsala. Busch has published over 240 peer reviewed articles, and has a background in thrombosis and vascular endothelial research.

Robert Geho is a Co-Founder and CEO of Diasome Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a company with targeted insulin therapies, novel Type 2 Diabetes technology, and oral therapy for obesity. He is concurrently the Co-Founder and Director of SDG, Inc., a Nanotechnology Therapeutics company an Equity Partner Company of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation located in Cleveland, Ohio. Geho was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes more than twenty years ago. He has been actively involved in the development of strategies for explaining the role of the liver in glucose metabolism and its ability to regulate glucose in people with Diabetes. He received both his undergraduate degree and an MBA from Case Western Reserve University. Robert also serves as a member on the boards of directors to the Diabetes Hands Foundation in Berkeley, CA and the Intermuseum Conservation Association in Cleveland, OH.