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In part 1 of this Exclusive Interview, Tracey Brown shares her epiphany as a person with type 2 diabetes in a conversation with Diabetes in Control Publisher Steve Freed.
Tracey Brown, MBA, BChE, is CEO of the American Diabetes Association.
Transcript of this video segment:
Freed: This is Steve Freed with Diabetes in Control and we’re here at the 78th Science Sessions at the American Diabetes Association. And we’ve been doing interviews with a number of medical people and non-medical people. And today, we have a real special guest with us Tracey Brown, who’s actually the new CEO for the American Diabetes Association. And I have to thank you for taking from your busy schedule to meet with us and we’ll try to make this quick and easy. So, my first question to you is tell us a little bit about yourself.
Brown: So, certainly, but let me start, Steve, by just thanking you for taking the opportunity to spend time to get to know me and a little bit about what I’m planning for the future. But I have been a type 2 diabetic for about 14 years and I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, and probably with that diagnosis, didn’t take it as seriously as I probably should have. And I remember every day my daughter would be with me watching me take my insulin, watching me prick my finger. She was about five years old. One day, she looked up at me and said, “Mommy, are you going to die of diabetes?” And that was actually the turning point for me, Steve. I decided at that moment and at that time I was going to make two commitments. The first commitment was to get my act together and actually really start managing this disease. And I said that I wanted to actually be the poster child of how to thrive with this disease until we found a cure. And then, the second commitment that I made was that I was going to do everything that I possibly could do help find a cure in my lifetime. And I am 50 years old now and I hope this is just the halfway point of my lifetime, but I’m not giving up on that.
And so, this journey for me has actually come full circle. I believe that I have this disease as a part of my purpose. And I believe that when you can get purpose, passion, and position aligned, great things can happen. I’ve been extremely passionate about fighting this disease, about helping people thrive with this disease, and doing everything that we can do to find a cure. And now, when I take my purpose and my passion and align it with this particular position of CEO, it’s fantastic. And so, all of the experience and skill sets that I have amassed over the last 30 years in the for-profit space will now be able to be applied to what we’re doing here to drive, not only this organization forward, but there are millions of people, like me and like you, who are counting on us finding a cure and counting on us providing the education and the support necessary for us to live better until we find a cure.