Four years after she was diagnosed with
type 1 diabetes, Christina Roth enrolled at
the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
At first, she felt isolated. “I was really resent-
ful of diabetes during my teen years, and
didn’t understand why it would be helpful
to talk to someone else with it,” she says.
But in 2009, after meeting a nurse practi-
tioner at the university health center who
had diabetes herself, Roth found relief. She
asked the nurse to help her connect with
other students with diabetes. “Coming out
of the first meeting, the sense of catharsis
was just ...” she trails off. “Finally, I could
laugh about my diabetes experiences and
somebody else just got it.”
Roth set up a simple web page so other
students at UMass could find the group.
Soon, anyone who Googled “college stu-
dents with diabetes” also came across the
page. She began to receive emails from stu-
dents across the country. Within a year, her
casual gathering had blossomed into the
College Diabetes Network.
Roth continued to nurture the organi-
zation while she finished school and started
working at the Joslin Diabetes Center. In her
off hours, she and a fellow recent grad—
who had started a CDN chapter at her own
school—devoted all their nonworking
hours to growing the network. In 2012, they
left their jobs to work on it full-time.
Today, CDN is a nonprofit organization
with registered chapters at more than 140
campuses across the United States. The mis-
sion is simple: To connect college students
who have type 1, offering peer support as
they navigate the transition into adulthood,
and to encourage young leaders to step up
and start solving problems.
Beyond supporting the college chap-
ters, CDN’s team of 11 staffers also works
with about 350 college campuses on ed-
ucation and accommodation programs,
with a goal of reaching 1,000 schools by
the end of 2019. Roth’s hope is to change
the way schools and the health care sector
think about fostering independent living
and managing type 1 diabetes, “and also
to change how they think about the phases
of life that a person with diabetes goes
through,” she says. “We’re working so that
for each individual young adult with diabe-
tes, the experience is more connected and
straightforward, where people aren’t falling
through the cracks.”CHRISTINA ROTH / CEO
& FOUNDER, COLLEGE
DIABETES NETWORK
“We’re working so that foreach individual, the experienceis more connected.”