Celebrating 100 years of Insulin
Professor Melanie Davies CBE shares a section of insulin history
Insulin Safety Week 2021 took place across the UK and Ireland, last week (17th and 23rd May) raising awareness in a bid to reduce insulin errors among healthcare professionals.
We are also celebrating 100 years of insulin! The discovery of insulin by Sir Frederick G. Banting and Charles Best in 1921, has saved millions of lives and is considered to be one of the greatest medical achievements of all time.
Professor Melanie Davies CBE, Professor of Diabetes Medicine and Co-Director of the Leicester Diabetes Centre will be be the keynote speaker for the Annual Diabetes CME Days at both Western University in London, Ontario and McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, presenting on ‘Progress since the discovery of insulin a hundred years ago, a journey through the decades since, and the impact on patient care’ in Toronto on the 10th November. We are delighted to share a small part of the history of insulin from this presentation.
Timeline 1920 - 1923
1920
October
November
1921
May - August
December
1922
January
March - May
1923
October
Leicester has a strong tradition and reputation for excellence in diabetes care dating back over 60 years to the pioneering work of Doctor Joan Walker in the 1950s.
Dr Walker established the first community diabetes clinics and the first diabetes research nurses in the UK. She started work at the Leicester Royal Infirmary (LRI) as honorary Physician during World War 2 taking care of people with diabetes. Today, Leicester also has the highest number of people with diabetes of any city in the UK.
Dr John Hearnshaw, was Dr Walker’s successor at the LRI in 1967. He was influential in the care of both children and adults with diabetes. He presented a review of childhood diabetes in Leicester from 1930 onwards at a meeting of the International Diabetes Federation which formed the basis of other prevalence studies.
This pioneering spirit is still at work in the Leicester Diabetes Centre. The original research department originated at the Leicester Royal Infirmary and was opened in 1996. At this time the main research work undertaken in the department was that of commercial drug trials.
Professor Davies began the diabetes research service in 2001 with one Nurse Research Fellow who was appointed to develop non-commercial clinical trials. This led to the success of the department’s first academic study looking into the combination of different oral agents in the treatment of Type 2 diabetes.
Since then, Professor Davies and colleagues Professor Khunti and Professor Choudhary have developed a talented and diverse team of over 150 researchers, clinicians and educationalists working together on an innovative research portfolio of successful academic and commercial trials.