The Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center at Columbia University

Family-centered diabetes research and care

Young diabetes patients have fun at the Berrie Center’s Halloween party

The groundbreaking Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center at Columbia University was a collaborative vision between the Foundation and Columbia University. The Center is one of the premier diabetes treatment facilities in the country, offering a new standard of diabetes care in New York.

The Foundation’s $13 million grant created the Center in 1997 along with local and state government funding. It combines unprecedented family-oriented patient care and education with world-class diabetes research programs to give diabetes patients information, treatment and hope.

Patient Care

The clinical program at the Center provides holistic care, podiatry services, eye care services and more. To simplify management of this complicated disease, the Center’s total diabetes care program includes endocrinologists specializing in diabetes, as well as nurse educators, nutritionists and exercise physiologists.

Education

The Center takes a unique, comprehensive approach to diabetes care that encourages patients to involve their entire families in the treatment process. It houses the Becton Dickinson Family Learning Center to provide information that helps patients and families manage diabetes, with a goal of helping them integrate optimal diabetes management into their everyday lives.

Research

The Naomi Berrie Center ribbon cutting with NY Gov. George Pataki and former Sen. Al D’Amato

Led by Co-Director, Dr. Rudolph Leibel, the Research Center is comprised of world-renowned physicians and scientists focusing on the genetics of diabetes. Advances made at the research center are made available to the patients at the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center as rapidly as possible.

Named after Russ Berrie’s mother, who suffered from diabetes, the Center has been designated as one of three "Diabetes Centers of Excellence" in New York State.

"The Center was designed to respect the dignity of people with diabetes," says Dr. Robin Goland, Co-Director of the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center. "We have designed our approach to patient care and the physical space of the Center to acknowledge the fact that patients have active and productive lives."

http://nbdiabetes.org/