SOURCE American Diabetes Association

ARLINGTON, Va., Feb. 17, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the American Diabetes Association® (ADA) announced the awardees of the 2026 Pathway to Stop Diabetes® (Pathway) Award grants. The seven new awards, totaling $11.3 million in strategic investment, bring the total number of Pathway grantees to 50 since the program's inception and represent an ongoing commitment to reshaping the future of diabetes care.

Through the Pathway program, talented early-career scientists who demonstrate exceptional innovation, creativity, and productivity receive five to seven years of funding to explore new ideas without traditional project constraints. They are also paired with world-renowned diabetes scientists who offer mentorship as well as scientific and professional guidance throughout the duration of their grant. 

This year, Pathway grants have been awarded to the following researchers and their breakthrough projects:

  • Christina Astley, MD, ScD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, and Assistant in Pediatrics, Boston Children's Hospital
    • Dr. Astley's research, Dysglycemia progression in diabetes using continuous glucose monitoring and artificial intelligence, will use computational modeling and AI to more precisely identify pacing of glycemic deterioration to better time and target interventions for those at risk of developing diabetes.
    • "I am deeply grateful to the American Diabetes Association for this tremendous honor and support. The path from healthy glucose levels to prediabetes and diabetes remains incompletely understood-sometimes leaving researchers, clinicians, and especially at-risk patients without clear guideposts. This award will enable me to use computational models to identify continuous glucose monitor (CGM) patterns that serve as early warning signals along this path. I am thrilled to be a part of the ADA's Pathway to Stop Diabetes community of researchers and mentors, and I look forward to working collaboratively to translate my research insights into digital health tools that can help change the course of disease."
  • Sagar Bapat, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, University of California, San Francisco
    • Dr. Bapat's research, Living Therapeutics: Development of a novel T cell therapy to enhance thermogenic function of adipose tissue, seeks to harness targeted cellular therapy and CRISPR technology to offer durable, preventative interventions against obesity-induced diabetes.
    • "This award will enable us to pursue a novel type of living T cell-based therapy aimed at modulating adipose tissue function to promote metabolic health. By harnessing the unique mobility and functional versatility of T cells, our goal is to restore healthy tissue function and improve insulin sensitivity in metabolic and inflammatory disease. The Pathway award provides critical support to translate these insights into therapeutic strategies with the potential for long-term benefit for patients."
  • Jessie Barra, PhD, Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Florida, Diabetes Institute
    • Dr. Barra's research, Immune Modeling and Intervention in Type 1 Diabetes Using Engineered Stem Cell-Derived ß-Cells, aims to create a human model system- integrating genome engineering, stem cell biology, and human immunology, to create a platform to guide the development of next-generation immune-protective stem cell-derived beta cells.
    • "Receiving the Pathway to Stop Diabetes Award is a pivotal moment for the establishment of my independent research program. This support enables me to pursue high-risk, mechanistic studies to define how human autoreactive immune cells recognize and destroy pancreatic beta cells and to translate those insights into strategies that promote durable immune protection of beta cell replacement therapies. By providing the freedom to integrate complex human immunology, stem cell biology, and genetic engineering to create innovative human model systems, this ADA award will enable me to address fundamental barriers to long-term beta cell graft survival in type 1 diabetes. Ultimately, the work supported by this ADA award aims to bring us closer to lasting, life-changing therapies for people living with type 1 diabetes."
  • Marissa Burgermaster, PhD, Assistant Professor of Nutritional Sciences and Population Health, The University of Texas at Austin
    • Dr. Burgermaster's research, Nutri: A Clinic-Cluster Randomized Trial to Evaluate Primary Care Provider Nutrition Care for Diabetes, will be the first efficacy trial to evaluate the impact of primary care doctors addressing diet as a standard part of clinical diabetes care.
    • "The Pathway award will provide me the resources and time needed to prove that we can transform care for millions of people living with diabetes by providing doctors a simple way to provide personalized dietary counseling in just minutes during routine appointments. Having the ADA's support for this work is an absolute honor for me as a researcher. But it is also personal: My grandfather's struggle with diabetes showed me how desperately patients need practical nutrition guidance, but how difficult it is to get that support within our current health care system. As an organization that focuses on advocacy and education in addition to research, the ADA is an ideal partner for real-world impact."
  • Tinashe Chikowore, MSc, PhD, Investigator at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Instructor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School
    • Dr. Chikowore's research, Optimizing dietary intake for global diabetes prevention: a culturally sensitive, AI and data-driven approach, looks to improve diabetes prevention by providing personalized, culturally tailored dietary strategies through a mobile application.
    • "How can evidence-based dietary recommendations for diabetes prevention be personalized to reflect the rich diversity and dynamic nature of eating patterns across the globe? I am deeply honored to receive this prestigious award from the American Diabetes Association, which enables my team and collaborators to address this critical challenge by integrating proteomics, artificial intelligence, and data-driven approaches. Through this work, we aim to develop a scalable mobile application that delivers culturally sensitive, personalized dietary guidance to support sustainable diabetes prevention worldwide."
  • Angela Trude, MS, PhD, Assistant Professor of Nutrition, New York University Steinhardt
    • Dr. Trude's research, OPT-TEEN: Optimization trial to empower selection of nutritious foods, focuses on estimating individual and interactive effects of youth-led online diabetes prevention efforts, financial incentives, and instant shoppable lists on promoting healthy eating among low-income youth.
    • "I am deeply committed to advancing diabetes research as it relates to youth through addressing systemic barriers to healthy food access. OPT-TEEN will do this by testing new and existing interventions to encourage healthy eating and reduce sugary food intake at home among teenagers. We are grateful for the support from the American Diabetes Association and deeply honored, as it will provide us with the necessary resources to expand this important program of research, engage with policymakers, and amplify the impact of our work on underserved communities. It will also enhance my ability to mentor the next generation of public health professionals, particularly in the areas of diabetes, community health, and healthy food access."
  • Rebecca Voorhees, PhD, Professor of Biology and HHMI Freeman Hrabowski Scholar, California Institute of Technology
    • Dr. Voorhees' research, Dissecting the role of ER stress in the pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus, targets an increased understanding of the relationship between proinsulin maturation and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress to pinpoint critical junctures for interventions that prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes.
    • "We are deeply honored and grateful to have received this award from the American Diabetes Association. This support will allow my laboratory to pursue a new line of high-risk, high-reward research trying to understand the fundamental mechanisms of diabetes pathogenesis that would have otherwise not been possible. Being a part of the ADA community is a tremendous opportunity that will enable the translation of our work into real-life solutions for patients."

"Diabetes research is vital to improving the lives of people living with diabetes, and ultimately finding a cure," said Rita Kalyani, MD, MHS, the ADA's chief scientific and medical officer. "The ADA is proud to foster new medical breakthroughs and support early-career investigators who are conducting innovative, high-impact diabetes research. Congratulations to these pioneering scientists."    

Nominations for the 2027 Pathway awards opened on February 2, with submissions due by May 19. For more information on this opportunity, please visit professional.diabetes.org/Pathway2026.

About the American Diabetes Association 
The American Diabetes Association (ADA) is the nation's leading voluntary health organization fighting to end diabetes and helping people thrive. This year, the ADA celebrates 85 years of driving discovery and research to prevent, manage, treat, and ultimately cure diabetes-and we're not stopping. There are 136 million Americans living with diabetes or prediabetes. Through advocacy, program development, and education, we're fighting for them all. To learn more or to get involved, visit us at diabetes.org or call 1-800-DIABETES (800-342-2383). Join us in the fight on Facebook (American Diabetes Association), Spanish Facebook (Asociación Americana de la Diabetes), LinkedIn (American Diabetes Association), and Instagram (@AmDiabetesAssn). To learn more about how we are advocating for everyone affected by diabetes, visit us on X (@AmDiabetesAssn).       (Asociación Americana de la Diabetes), LinkedIn (American Diabetes Association), and Instagram (@AmDiabetesAssn). To learn more about how we are advocating for everyone affected by diabetes, visit us on X (@AmDiabetesAssn).   

Contact: Virginia Cramer, (703) 253-4927
[email protected] 

 

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