Patron

Our Patron

Distinguished Professor David Simmons has a long and respected history working as a diabetes specialist physician, researcher and advocate. As the original founder of Diabetes Foundation Aotearoa back in the 1990’s with the support of Sir John Scott, Betty Hunapo, Christina Tapu and Dr David Scott, the connection with our organisation and its goals can’t get much deeper. In his years of work, first at Middlemore and later in the Waikato, Professor Simmons has put great energy into helping those most affected by diabetes. With his strong historic links into the Tāmaki Makaurau community he is currently working and consulting on locally relevant research, as well as providing academic supervision and support from across the Tasman. He visits Aotearoa New Zealand regularly to see his whanau here and for work.

Biography

Qualifications: MA MB BS FRACP FRCP MD(Cantab)

Skills: Diabetes and Diabetes in Pregnancy specialist, Clinical epidemiologist, Health Services Research including complex clinical trials Rural Health, Access to care

Professor Simmons is Distinguished Professor of Medicine at the Western Sydney University Macarthur Clinical School, Head of the Campbelltown Hospital Endocrinology Department, Director of the Diabetes Obesity and Metabolism Translation Unit (DOMTRU) and Co-Director of the DOM Clinical Academic Group of the Sydney Partnership for Health, Education, Research and Enterprise. From 2007 to 2014, he was the lead diabetes consultant at Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge, UK, overseeing major changes in the local model of care. He is a visiting academic to the University of Orebro Sweden and Middlemore Hospital New Zealand.

With over 400 refereed publications, recent awards were the American Norbert Freinkel Award 2020, the European Jorgen Pederson Award 2022 and the Indian MDRF Gold Medal 2021 for his research into diabetes in pregnancy and the Australian Jeff Flack Award 2022 for data collection. He is a past president of the Australasian Diabetes in Pregnancy Society (ADIPS) and was a member of the World Health Organisation technical working group on the criteria for hyperglycaemia in pregnancy. He was previously the chair of Diabetes UK Health Professional Education Steering Group. He was/is CIA for several studies including the Crossroads I and II (GNT1113850-Rural health cohort) studies, TOBOGM (RCT of treating early gestational diabetes-GNT1104231), Pasifika Preventing Diabetes Program (RCT of lifestyle/support to prevent diabetes/complication among Pasifika-GNT1171003), APHLID-M RCT of app in young adults with diabetes (MTP-Connect 2022), Wollondilly Diabetes Program-community intervention to reduce diabetes and its complications, DIRECT-Australia-diabetes remission service evaluation. He currently supervises 12 PhD students from around the world.

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