The Alliance is a statewide, grassroots partnership promoting diabetes prevention, education, and care issues.
Membership in the Alliance is free and open to individuals and organizations who are committed to improving Florida's
diabetes health system through community-level actions.
The Alliance's executive committee has a leadership role in accomplishing objectives that complement the goals of the
Diabetes Prevention and Control Program (DPCP) and the Diabetes Advisory Council. The executive committee, which is called
the Leadership Council, has 15 members. Nine members are elected by Alliance members; six are appointed by the DPCP.
Officers are elected by the Leadership Council: the Chair, Chair-Elect, Secretary, and the co-chairs of four standing
committees. These four committees are combined DAC and Alliance committees, and are co-chaired by a member of the DAC
and a member of the Leadership Council: Primary Prevention, Diabetes Self-Management Education (DSME), School Health, and Policy & Advocacy.
Leadership Council Members
Officers
- Chair: Barbara Jacobowitz, MSPH, Concerned Citizen
- Chair-Elect: Kathy Mulcahy, RN, MSN, CDE
- Past Chair: Rosa M. Carranza, CDE, Little Havana Education and Nutrition Centers
- Secretary: Beverly Johnson, RN MSCC CLCP CRRN CCM
- Primary Prevention Co-Chairs: Rosa Carranza (with Donald Grossman, DAC)
- DSME Co-Chairs: Joanne Vaccaro-Kish (with Ephraim Hess, DAC)
- Policy & Advocacy Co-Chairs: Kim Bertron (with Larry Fox, DAC)
- School Health Co-Chairs: Pauline Lowe (with Janet Silverstein, DAC)
At-Large Members
- Babu Balagopal, PhD, Nemours Children's Clinic
- Phyllis Bruno, MSN, RN, CDE, Cleveland Clinic
- Kathy MacNeill, Heartland Rural Health Network
- Michael Gervasi, DO, Florida Community Health Centers, Inc.
- Nicole Johnson, MPH, University of South Florida Diabetes Center
- R. Michael (Mike) Hill, Northwest Florida and Big Bend Health Councils
Alliance Membership
The Alliance has three membership levels, based on degree of participation:
Leadership Council members are elected from the Alliance membership in accordance with the Alliance by-laws.
Leadership Council members also participate in committee and local-level activities.
Committee members are active participants of at least one standing committee. Committee members also participate
in local-level activities of the general membership.
General membership is comprised of members who are active in their communities in promoting diabetes prevention, education, and care.
They work locally to improve the state diabetes health system. Alliance members receive announcements of educational and networking
opportunities, such as the annual Educational Forum-General Membership meeting. They may choose to be included in a directory of
members to increase networking possibilities and collaboration.
Become an Alliance Member
Do you want to get involved in preventing and controlling diabetes? If so, just complete the Membership Form today!
Standing Committees
Standing committees meet via conference calls and may meet in person at the Leadership Council
business meetings.
- Primary Prevention: This committee will undertake activities, interventions, and policy and environmental changes thatseek to delay or halt the development of diabetes. Members of this committee are responsible for strategies to achieve Goal 1 of the Joint Strategic Plan.
- DSME: Self-management activities are undertaken by an individual to control and monitor their diabetes outside the clinical setting. More than 90 percent of diabetes care is self-care. Self-care can include monitoring blood glucose levels, following a treatment plan, eating healthy, exercising, losing weight, checking for foot ulcers, attending classes and support groups, and scheduling regular clinical examinations and testing. Self-management includes important secondary and tertiary prevention interventions, which focus on people with diabetes and seek to prevent (secondary) or control (tertiary) the devastating complications of this disease. Members of the DSME Committee are responsible for strategies to achieve Goal 2 of the Joint Strategic Plan.
- School Health: School health is a passion of many of our partners on both the DAC and the Alliance. Both providing diabetes care for students with Type 1 or Type 2 and prevention of Type 2 diabetes are important issues for the school environment. Students who take insulin must have access to care 24-7, including during the school day and during school-sponsored activities. All students must have the same educational opportunities, regardless of whether they have diabetes. Schools are one of the three important venues - along with home and the community - for establishing lifestyles that include healthy nutritional choices and adequate physical activity. Members of this committee are responsible for strategies to achieve Goal 3 of the Joint Strategic Plan.
- Policy and Advocacy: There are many people with diabetes who are uninsured or underinsured and cannot access the supplies, medications, and education necessary to successfully manage the disease and prevent diabetes-related complications such as heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, blindness, and lower-limb amputation. Advocacy efforts are critical for influencing public policy to assure that people with diabetes have the necessary tools for effectively managing their disease. Members of this committee are responsible for policy recommendations that support all three goals of the Joint Strategic Plan
Strategic Plan
The Florida Diabetes Health System strategic plan (PDF 682 KB) was updated in November 2009. The Life Stage Work Groups indicated as having lead responsibility will be replaced by committees once the new combined committee structure of the Alliance and the Diabetes Advisory Council is adopted.
Meetings and Conference Calls
The Leadership Council meets quarterly. Beginning with the adoption of the new committee structure in July 2010, the Leadership Council and the Diabetes Advisory Council hold joint (Diabetes Core Leadership) quarterly meetings and committee conference calls.
Please visit the Meeting Notices page for the most current meeting information.
Note: Files are provided in the Portable Document Format or PDF. You may need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view and/or print it.