The ADA’s premier conference, the largest of its kind globally, took place June 5-8 in New Orleans and drew more than 10,000 researchers, clinicians, and other healthcare professionals from around the world.
Nine researchers from the University of Maryland Institute for Health Computing (UM-IHC) and the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) presented papers or posters at the American Diabetes Association’s (ADA) Scientific Sessions this month in New Orleans, with topics ranging from leadership in advancing diabetes care and research to hypoglycemia to diabetes social determinants of health to the policies tackling insulin costs.
Some were also invited to lead symposia related to their areas of expertise.
“It was exciting to see our team so well represented this year,” said Rozalina McCoy, director of UM-IHC’s Center for Population Health and an associate professor of medicine at UMSOM, referring to the UMD undergraduate student, UMSOM medical and doctoral students and UM-IHC postdoctoral fellows presenting their work and leading symposia at this premier international meeting. “These are exceptional early career researchers whose work is truly advancing diabetes research and improving clinical care.”
In addition to presenting, McCoy—who served as co-chair of the ADA Professional Practice Committee in 2024 and 202—chaired the symposium on “American Diabetes Association’s Standards of Care in Diabetes: 2026 Updates.” She also served on the organizing committee for the pre-conference ADA Scholars event and spoke to the participating trainees and junior faculty on being a changemaker in diabetes care. UM-IHC faculty member Alexandria Ratzki-Leewing, a UMSOM assistant professor of epidemiology and public health, chaired and moderated a highly spirited debate titled “Level 1 Hypoglycemia–Does It Really Matter?” and led the hypoglycemia subcommittee on the ADA’s meeting planning committee.
McCoy and Ratzki-Leewing, who wrote chapters in the new ADA textbook, Medical Management of Type 2 Diabetes, 9th edition, also participated in a book signing event.
“Our researchers are helping shape the future of diabetes care through rigorous science, interdisciplinary collaboration and a deep commitment to improving health outcomes,” said UM-IHC Co-Executive Director Bradley Maron, the Melvin Sharoky, MD Professor of Medicine at UMSOM. “Their contributions at the ADA Scientific Sessions demonstrate not only the strength of their scholarship, but also the important leadership role the UM-IHC plays in advancing diabetes research nationally.”
UM-IHC researchers presented the following papers and posters at the 2026 ADA Scientific Sessions:
“Using Address-Level Discrete Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) to Predict Diabetes Prevalence in Maryland,” and “Level 3 severe hypoglycemia (SH), Supplemental Nutritional Access Program (SNAP) Exhaustion, and Emergency Feeding Organizations (EFOs): A U.S. State-Level Analysis,” were presented as posters by UM-IHC Postdoctoral Fellow Jim Shuo Huang.
“Impact of Primary Care Availability on Adverse Effects of Social Vulnerability on Diabetes Outcomes” and “Trends in Metabolic Medication Use Among Youth Receiving Antipsychotics, 2016–2024,” were presented as posters presented by Ozi Iyalomhe, a Ph.D. student in epidemiology and human genetics at UMSOM under the mentorship of Dr. McCoy.
“Discussion on Diabetes in Primary Care: Optimizing Use, Safety, and Tolerability of Diabetes Medications – the Clinician’s Perspective,” and “The New Frontier of Hypoglycemia Prevention: Pathophysiology, Therapies, Technology, and Care–From Innovation to Clinical Care,” were two invited symposia presented by McCoy. She also spoke at the ADA Scholars event on “Becoming a Change Maker in Diabetes Care.”
“Food Insecurity and Level 3 Hypoglycemia in Non-Insulin-Treated Secretagogue Users (iNPHORM, USA),” the ADA Presidents’ Select Abstract, presented by Ratzki-Leewing, who also co-authored seven additional abstracts.
“Primary Care and Endocrinology Visits Among Medicare Beneficiaries with Diabetes, 2017-2021,” presented as a poster and an oral/ePoster by UM-IHC Postdoctoral Fellow Kaitlynn Robinson-Ector.
“A New Decision Aid Tool for Type 2 Diabetes (T2D): Design and Multistakeholder Usability Testing,” a poster presentation co-authored by three UM-IHC researchers: Aditi Singh and Umailla Naeem, both medical students at UMSOM, and Alicia Hawkins, who has a B.S. in neuroscience from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Singh also presented a poster focused on “Utilization and Persistence of Weight Management Therapies Among Adults with Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) and Obesity.”
“To Pay or Not to Pay: Population Impact of State-Level Insulin Out-of-Pocket Caps,” an oral presentation by UM-IHC Postdoctoral Fellow Renhao Wang.
