Speakers
Pam Kushner, MD, FAAFP
Clinical Professor
University of California at Irvine
Dr. Pam Kushner is a board-certified family physician with a private practice in Long Beach, California for over twenty years. Her practice specializes in preventive medical care for the entire patient. Dr. Kushner is a past Alternate Delegate to the AAFP from the State of California. Dr. Kushner has received awards from Soroptimist International as woman of the year and the Clean Spokesperson award from the American Lung Association. Dr. Kushner is a past member of the California state Tobacco Free Scientific Advisory Committee. She has served as the chairperson for the AAFP Drugs and Devices Committee.
Dr. Kushner is a Clinical Professor of Family Medicine for the University of California at Irvine. She is also past facility for the University of Southern California Physician Assistant Program. As a California medical board reviewer, Dr. Kushner has helped educate family physicians on the newest medical therapies. Dr. Kushner devotes a significant portion of her time to teaching other doctors and has been a keynote speaker at the American Academy of Family Physicians. She has helped design the curriculums for the Hospice Foundation of America and the Samueli Center in Irvine. Dr. Kushner received both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from UCLA in Biology. She then went on to receive her MD degree from the University of California at Irvine. She has managed a clinical laboratory for over 25 years, beginning with an amino acid chromatography lab experience at UCLA.
Dr. Kushner is also the immediate past director of the Osteoporosis Diagnostic Center in Los Alamitos, California, a position she had held for twenty years. She is widely published in medical and lay journals including STROKE and Woman’s Medicine.
Diana Isaacs, PharmD, BCPS, BC-ADM, BCACP, CDE, CDCES, FCCP
Director, Education and Training
Endocrinology & Metabolism Institute
Cleveland Clinic
Diana Isaacs, PharmD, BCPS, BC-ADM, BCACP, CDCES, FADCES, FCCP is an Endocrinology Clinical Pharmacy Specialist. She is the Co-Director of Endocrine Disorders in Pregnancy at the Cleveland Clinic Endocrinology and Metabolism Institute. She is also the Director of Education & Training in Diabetes Technology.
Dr. Isaacs earned her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Illinois at Chicago, Doctor of Pharmacy Degree from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) and completed a pharmacy practice residency at the Philadelphia VA. Dr. Isaacs holds board certifications in pharmacotherapy, ambulatory care, and advanced diabetes management. She served on the American Diabetes Association (ADA) Professional Practice Committee from 2020-2023, the committee that updates the ADA Standards of Care. She is currently a National Board Member of the Association of Diabetes Care and Education Specialists (ADCES).
She advocates access and choice to the latest technologies and therapeutics for all people with diabetes and speaks on diabetes related topics nationally and internationally. She was the ADCES Diabetes Care and Education Specialist of the Year in 2020 and inducted into the SIUE Hall of Fame in 2022 for her far reaching contributions in diabetes care.
Davida Kruger, NP, RN, MSN, CNP, APRN
Nurse Practitioner
Henry Ford Medical Center New Center One
Henry Ford Health System
Davida F. Kruger is a certified nurse practitioner in the Division of Endocrinology at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, Michigan, where she is involved in both clinical practice and research. She is board certified by the American Nurses Association Credentialing Center in Primary Care, and by the American Association of Diabetes Educators in Advanced Diabetes Management. She is past chair of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) Research Foundation and has served on the ADA’s Research Policy Committee. She is also a past president of Health Care and Education for the ADA.
Davida was the Editor of Diabetes Spectrum from 2005-2008 and Editor In Chief of Clinical Diabetes from 2011-2016. She was the Clara Ford Award for Nursing Excellence in Research and Education in 2014 as well as the Alumna of the Year Award from Wayne State University School of Nursing in that same year. Davida has also received the Florence Nightingale Award for Excellence in Research, Rachmeil Levine Award for Distinguished Service, Ross Hickey Award for Outstanding Service in Diabetes Research Funding, and Wendell Mayes, Jr. Medal for Outstanding Service in the Cause of Diabetes.