Hero Award

Carol Atkinson

2025 ISPAD Hero Award Winner, United States of America

Carol Atkinson is the Founding Executive Director Emeritus of Insulin for Life USA (IFL USA), a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing life-saving insulin and diabetes supplies to individuals in low-resource settings and emergency situations around the globe. After more than a decade of organizing international medical relief missions, Carol launched IFL USA in 2012 with a bold and compassionate vision: that no one should die due to lack of access to insulin. Under her leadership, IFL USA grew from a grassroots initiative into a highly respected and environmentally conscious organization, annually distributing nearly $10 million in donated insulin and supplies to more than two dozen clinics in 24 countries. These include some of the world’s most impoverished regions, where access to diabetes care is often nonexistent. Carol’s work has also been distinguished by her extraordinary responsiveness to crises. From Central America and sub-Saharan Africa to war-torn Ukraine, she led IFL USA in delivering critical supplies to clinics amid disrupted infrastructure and displacement. Her nimble coordination with international and local partners ensured continuity of care during even the most dire circumstances. In the U.S., Carol co-founded the Diabetes Disaster Response Coalition (DDRC), uniting over 20 national diabetes organizations to support those affected by hurricanes, wildfires, and other disasters. The coalition’s tools and resources—including insulin conversion charts and disaster kit guides—have become essential for emergency preparedness in diabetes care. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Carol extended IFL USA’s support to underserved clinics facing supply shortages, highlighting her commitment to equitable care both globally and locally.

Carol's leadership has always been marked by empathy, ethical stewardship, and deep collaboration. She has fostered enduring partnerships to ensure continuity of care even beyond the reach of traditional aid programs. Under her guidance, IFL USA has been recognized for its transparency and fiscal responsibility, underscoring her professionalism and integrity. After more than 25 years of tireless advocacy and humanitarian service, Carol retired from her role in June 2025. Her work has saved countless lives and strengthened global systems for diabetes care. Though retired, her influence endures—in the partnerships she built, the lives she touched, and the legacy she leaves in the ongoing mission to ensure insulin for all.

Lakshminarayana Varimadugu

2024 ISPAD Hero Award Winner, India

Lakshmi was born with visual impairment, in a family from a very low socioeconomic background. His parents are farmers holding a tiny portion of land, dependent on unpredictable rainfall, in the drought prone area of Anantapuram in the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. He was lucky to get schooling under the aegis of an NGO.

Being diagnosed with T1D at the age of 17 was a huge blow. Though the visual impairment is not connected to T1D, it certainly influenced its management. Simply loading insulin in a syringe from a vial was a struggle faced several times each day, since it depended on someone finding the time to do it. Sometimes random people had to be asked for help. Incorrect dosing, and delayed or missed meals, leading to hyper- and hypoglycemia, were daily occurrences. Blood glucose testing? He did not know that a glucometer was needed – in any case glucometers were inaccessible due to visual impairment and affordability; it was a huge struggle to find someone to read the glucometer, especially at midnight if a hypo was happening. Fate interceded, technology was harnessed – mastering the use of insulin pen and smart glucometer / voice enabled glucometer; later the LibrePro glucose sensor; enabled him to independently manage the twin challenges of blindness and T1D.

This has made it possible to travel, to take a job, to do T1D work across the country, including remote corners as well as crowded cities. He is currently working as a "digital accessibility tester” (a software engineer) at the internationally reputed company TCS in Hyderabad, where his responsibilities also include ensuring accessibility of website, applications and digital content for People with different kinds of Disability. He began working with the T1D community and associated NGOs, including Sweet Souls (President) and Type 1 Diabetes Foundation of India (South zone coordinator). The main focus was on bringing T1Ds together and building the community. Learning from different NGOs by attending events and conferences across the country, he would implement the lessons in his programs, while encouraging and guiding other T1D leaders to work. He along with his friends developed diabetes educational material and videos and ensures that are available by everyone by translating in the local language. He visits families with T1D and assures that we are there to support in their journey.

In 2022, he took the ISPAE IDEAL course to become a Certified Pediatric Diabetes Educator, then helped there as Course Coordinator as well. It was a proud moment when IDEAL received the ISPAD award last year. The training sharpened his focus and made handling T1D projects and working with the State and Central Government more effective, especially coordinating and ensuring insulin and other diabetes supplies are made available, as well as working towards implementing guidelines for school going children living with T1D. It is a constant process of planning, representing, implementing, and evaluating. The latest project is the setting up of a Pediatric Diabetes Clinic in RDT Battalapalli Hospital in Anantapuram, where children have an average HbA1C of about 12%, on premixed Regular and NPH insulin. With an NGO sponsoring supplies, these children are being transitioned to biosimilar glargine with Regular insulin, with 150 glucostrips a month to do the hitherto unheard of SMBG, a logbook, and the diabetes education to make sense of it all, so they can start living and studying more comfortably.

Ever ready to take up new challenges, in 2023 Lakshmi learnt and began Marathon Running to raise funds and inspire persons with T1D, while proving to the general public what persons with T1D are capable of. His basic philosophy of life is simple: he is driven by a determination to give back to Society inspired by Father Vincent Ferrer from Spain, founder of the RDT Trust. He feels handling T1D is more difficult than visual impairment. T1D seeks 24*7 attention from the person. Having understood the enormous gaps in T1D care in India, he has chosen to work for T1D empowerment because he strongly believes that even small support to children and adolescents with T1D helps them to achieve their goals and enjoy their life. He himself feels having multiple challenges is a blessing and celebrates his life. He also enjoys and celebrates the achievements and the independent diabetes management of persons with T1Ds.

He works with empathy, as he understands the challenges of different sections of society, and strives for their empowerment. Generally, it is assumed that People with Disabilities always need support to live. He wants to prove that People with Disabilities can live independently and can contribute to Society.