Lorraine Lipscombe, MD, MSC, FRCPC

Diabetes is a life-altering and expensive chronic condition with increasing rates of prevalence in young women across Canada. In addition, three to 20 per cent of pregnant women will develop temporary gestational diabetes putting them at risk for developing type 2 diabetes in the future. To combat this growing issue, Dr. Lorraine Lipscombe is leading a successful research program focused on the prevention, care and outcomes for patients with diabetes, particularly for women.

Dr. Lipscombe’s CIHR-funded diabetes prevention program, Avoiding Diabetes After Pregnancy Trial in Moms (ADAPT-M), was inspired by the experiences she encountered within her own clinical practice. Frustrated with the lack of a better plan or resources to help her patients make changes to improve their health outcomes, Dr. Lipscombe designed and evaluated a new solution that was flexible enough to meet the needs of these patients. The innovative, home-based, coaching program is fully customizable to the available fitness and nutrition options for each participant, improving the odds for lowering their risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Like many other research projects at WCRI, the ADAPT-M program utilizes resources within the existing healthcare system to maximize impact and increase the ability for the program to be spread and scaled across the healthcare system.

Dr. Lipscombe was recently appointed as the inaugural Director for University of Toronto’s Novo Nordisk Network for Healthy Populations, which is a cross-disciplinary research network based at the University of Toronto Mississauga campus. This new network will unite academics with community stakeholders in Peel Region to address the burden of diabetes and other chronic diseases through community-based research.