2026 Breakthrough T1D Fellowship Awardees
Xinyi Xu
Xinyi is a registered dietitian and CDCES currently practicing in the Pediatric Endocrinology Division at Montefiore Hospital. She obtained her BS at New York University and her MS at Columbia University. She was engaged in research at NYU Langone on mobile health interventions for Chinese immigrants with T2D, prompting her to adapt the DPP into culturally tailored educational videos. At Montefiore, she focuses on investigating Hispanic caregivers' perceptions of nutrition in managing type 1 diabetes, while identifying systemic barriers to effective diabetes care. Dedicated to health equity, Xinyi develops culturally appropriate strategies to improve diabetes outcomes for underserved populations.
Rachel Flanagan
Dr. Rachel Flanagan is a graduate of the Doctorate in Counselling Psychology at Trinity College Dublin. She is now a Senior Counselling Psychologist working in Paediatric Diabetes and Paediatric Obesity at Children’s Health Ireland (CHI). In this setting, Dr Flanagan has focused particularly on the use of therapeutic models such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) to support young people living with a medical condition. Dr Flanagan co-facilitates a multidisciplinary psychoeducational group for older teenagers with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) transitioning to adult care and this is part of an ongoing research study at CHI for which she is a co-investigator. She is now aiming to research an ACT based intervention for younger adolescents living with T1D who are making the significant transition to secondary school.