Prize for Innovation in Pediatric Diabetes Care

NICH Program

2026 ISPAD Prize for Innovation in Pediatric Diabetes Care Winner, United States of America

Dr. Michael A. Harris, Professor of Pediatrics at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) and Dr. Kim Spiro, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at OHSU co-developed the NICH program, an evidence-based model that delivers intensive community and home-based interventions for youth living with diabetes who also face significant social challenges. NICH is specifically designed to serve the most vulnerable youth, those whose diabetes management is impacted by circumstances out of their control, such as housing and food insecurity, transportation challenges, caregiver stress and limited access to healthcare. By addressing these underlying social drivers of health, NICH helps families overcome obstacles that would otherwise make effective diabetes management nearly impossible.

NICH has aligned its outcomes with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s quintuple aim including reducing costs, improving care, improving health, reducing provider burnout, and advancing health equity. NICH has achieved notable results, including significant reductions in total healthcare expenditures, decreases in diabetic ketoacidosis (DKAs) and A1Cs, improved access to diabetes technology, fewer no-shows to diabetes clinic appointments and overall, reduced burden on families managing daily living alongside diabetes challenges. 

NICH has been successfully implemented at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, Stanford, and Benioff Children’s Hospitals, UCSF. The program has received several accolades, including the 2015 Clinical Innovation Award from the Association of American Medical Colleges, the 2017 Inaugural Press Ganey Award for Pediatric Excellence, and was a winner of the 2023 American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions Inaugural Innovation Challenge.

The program has received funding from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust (HCT), American Diabetes Association (ADA), and Breakthrough T1D (formerly JDRF). In June of 2017, Michael was awarded the Richard R. Rubin Award by the American Diabetes Association that recognizes a behavioral researcher who has made outstanding and innovative contribution in the study and understanding of behavioral aspects of diabetes which largely included his work on NICH.

While Michael and Kim co-founded NICH, its success is the result of the dedication and expertise of many others. Whether it’s providing direct support to patients and families, supervising implementation, conducting outcomes research, advocating with healthcare leaders, seeking and applying for funding, disseminating NICH to new institutions, or sharing the powerful stories of the families we serve with stakeholders, every contribution has been essential. This award reflects the collective efforts of an extraordinary community of clinicians, researchers, leaders, partners, and families who have helped NICH grow and thrive. It truly takes a village.

Sujoy Ghosh

2025 ISPAD Prize for Innovation in Pediatric Diabetes Care Winner, India

Dr. Ghosh is Professor of Endocrinology and Metabolism at Institute of Post-Graduate Medical Education & Research (IPGME&R), Kolkata, India. He previously worked at the University Hospital of Ayr, Scotland, UK.

Upon returning to India, Dr. Ghosh re-joined the Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism at IPGME&R, where he had completed his post-doctoral training. He is actively involved in teaching and mentoring post-doctoral fellows, postgraduate and Ph.D. students, as well as paramedical and support staff involved in endocrine and diabetes care.

He has worked to improve lives of children living with Type 1 diabetes (T1D). He successfully established the first pediatric diabetes clinic in a government set up in Eastern India, providing free insulin, glucose meters/blood glucose test strips along with laboratory investigations to children living with T1D. Inspired by its success, he developed and implemented a structured model of care for T1D in West Bengal, India with help and support from the Government of West Bengal. Model clinics were established at secondary care level (district hospitals), delivering intermediate-level care (aligned with international standards), by trained physicians, nurses, and NCD counsellors. This started as a pilot project in 5 districts of West Bengal. This is under the state National Health Mission and has received support from the central government. The methodology paper for this model is already published.

The model demonstrated significant improvements: better glycemic control, healthier injection sites, improved growth and development, no diabetic ketoacidosis or deaths, fewer hypoglycemic episodes, reduced hospitalizations and expenditures, and enhanced quality of life and psychological well-being for both children and families.

Based on its success, Dr. Ghosh has scaled it up to cover next 10 districts in West Bengal as approved by the Central Government for Program Implementation Plan starting April 1, 2024.

He has provided inputs to T1D section of the proposed national health policy on Type 1 Diabetes of Government of India. Once launched, model clinics will be established in every district hospital of India based on this model.

Michael Witsch

2024 ISPAD Prize for Innovation in Pediatric Diabetes Care, Germany

After completing his medical studies in Ulm/Germany, Dr. Witsch worked for 15 years at the Children’s University Hospital in Mannheim/Germany. He became involved with the DPV initiative in 1996 and was introduced to benchmarking long before it became an internationally accepted principle for improving the quality of care. In 2009, he joined the DECCP (Diabetes and Endocrinology Care Clinique Pédiatrique) team at the Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg.
In addition to his work as a physician, he has a strong passion for IT, which lead him to develop a clinical information system for children’s hospitals already in 1999. His primary focus lies on data processing and benchmarking, with a particular interest in integrating benchmarking principles in daily patient care. As “Chief Digital Medical Health Officer” of the Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg, he acts as a bridge between healthcare professionals and IT specialists, supporting the hospital’s digitalization efforts and advancement in the field of data management. Overcoming the challenge of generating valid data for research and benchmarking without adding to the workload of staff members, the DECCP team is the only center in Luxembourg to be awarded the certification of “Full Member of the European Reference Network”.

As leader of the “E-medicine” chapter of Luxembourg’s “National Cancer Plan”, Dr. Witsch coordinates expectations and strategies at a national level.

The multinational environment in Luxembourg started sparking an interest in international cooperation. In 2010, his colleague Carine de Beaufort introduced him to SWEET, one year later he became responsible for the SWEET benchmarking report. He strongly believes that comparing one’s own data openly with other centers provides valuable insights to critically assess and improve diabetes treatment. Through his efforts and his passion for driving change, the culture of open benchmarking keeps growing steadily. However, addressing the diverse needs of SWEET centers all over the world remains a challenge. The fact that modern diabetes therapy is increasingly reliant on seamless data transfer also shows that benchmarking requires close collaboration with industry partners to be truly effective.

In response to the demand for digitally accessible and personalized benchmarking reports,  Dr. Witsch developed an interactive app for SWEET, that allows users to create customized reports and graphics in addition to the classic standardized reports. The app will be presented and launched at the 2024 ISPAD congress in Lisbon.