Our Story
The PANTHER Program®, based out of the Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes (BDC), was founded by Laurel Messer. Led by Cari Berget, the PANTHER Program leverages the experience of their team’s certified diabetes care and education specialists, endocrinologists, and researchers to distill down the most vital information needed for healthcare professionals to understand and work with diabetes devices. The PANTHER team collectively has over 100 years of experience with insulin pumps, CGM, and automated insulin delivery devices.
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The PANTHER Program was named as a nod to the legacy of diabetes education at the BDC and the Pink Panther book series.
Meet the Team
Cari Berget is a registered nurse and certified diabetes care and education specialist with expertise in working with diabetes technologies. She is faculty at the Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes, University of Colorado School of Medicine and manages the PANTHER team's pediatric artificial pancreas research program where the team conducts numerous clinical trials each year with youth with type 1 diabetes using advanced diabetes technologies, including CGMs and automated insulin delivery systems. Working in clinical trials affords Cari the opportunity to work with these devices years before they become commercially available.
Cari is a well-known speaker on the topic of diabetes technology, regularly presenting to clinician groups about practical tips for clinical implementation of new technologies and insights to optimize diabetes outcomes using advanced technologies. She has published dozens of articles in peer-reviewed medical journals about the use of diabetes technologies in the real-world and consults with industry partners to help educate health care professionals on new technologies. Cari’s passion is helping people with diabetes be successful with their diabetes devices and supporting clinicians in providing quality care and education for device users. Through her work with the PANTHER Program, Cari desires to equip health care professionals with practical educational materials and tools that are useful to their everyday clinical practice.
Erin Cobry
MD
Dr. Erin Cobry is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. She conducts research under a JDRF and Helmsley Charitable Trust grant focused on improving sleep health in adolescents with type 1 diabetes. Additionally, she serves as a site PI and co-investigator for both industry and academic research involving diabetes technologies, including continuous glucose monitors, insulin pumps, and automated insulin delivery systems. This research focuses on safety and efficacy evaluations and the impact of these systems on sleep and quality of life.
Dr. Cobry hopes to help equip Health Care Providers to work effectively with technologies through her work in the PANTHER Program. Her overall goal is to improve diabetes care in all environments through access to technologies and methods to decrease burden and improve quality of life.
Gregory Forlenza
MD, MS
Dr. Greg Forlenza is a pediatric endocrinologist specializing in diabetes technology. He is an Associate Professor at the Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes, University of Colorado School of Medicine, and Childrens Hospital Colorado. He conducts industry research sponsored by Medtronic, Dexcom, Tandem, Insulet, Abbott, Lilly, and Beta Bionics. He has academic research support from the NIH NIDDK, JDRF, NSF, CU Foundation, and Helmsley Charitable Trust. His research focuses on development, improvement, and approval of insulin pumps, continuous glucose monitors, and automated insulin delivery systems.
Dr. Forlenza speaks locally, nationally, and internationally on optimizing success in diabetes care and technology use in children. He aims to educate healthcare providers on use of novel technology building on experiences gained through development and approval trials of new systems. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles about diabetes technology. He advocates for using technology in children to improve their care rather than waiting on improved care as a metric for obtaining technology. He believes that with proper education, any child and family can be successful with the right technology!​
R. Paul Wadwa
MD
Dr. Paul Wadwa is a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and Director of the Pediatric Clinic at the Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes. He has been a member of the faculty at the Barbara Davis Center and Children’s Hospital Colorado since 2003 and has directed the Barbara Davis Center Pediatric clinic telemedicine program since 2011.
Dr. Wadwa’s research focuses on implementation of automated insulin delivery for people with type 1 diabetes. He is engaged as a site PI and as a co-investigator for several NIH-sponsored and industry-sponsored clinical research studies with the goal of advancing diabetes technology. He hopes the resources offered through the PANTHER Program will help clinicians feel confident in using technologies for the people with type 1 diabetes they work with in their practice.
PANTHER Research Team
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BACK: Erin Cobry MD | Paul Wadwa MD | Gregory Forlenza MD, MS | Cari Berget MPH, RN, CDCES | Kasserine Taylor BS | Luke Geiser BA | Emily Fivekiller MPH, CCRP
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FRONT: Lindsey Towers BS, CCRP | Samantha Lange MSN, FNP-C, CDCES | Angela Karami BS | Estella Escobar BS | Emily Jost MPH, RD, CDCES
With thanks to:
Jean Bessey
MPH, RD, CDCES
Emily Boranian
RN, CDCES
Betsy Otten
BSN, RN, CDCES
...for their contributions to the PANTHER Program
The Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes (BDC) specializes in Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) research and care for children and adults. It is one of the largest diabetes institutes in the world. The Center is part of the University of Colorado School of Medicine and has its dedicated building on the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colorado.
The Center was funded by Marvin and Barbara Davis, in 1978, and is generously supported by the Children’s Diabetes Foundation (CDF)​.
Clinicians, clinical researchers, and basic biomedical scientists work at the BDC to find the most effective treatment, prevention, and cure for T1D. The Center provides state-of-the-art diabetes care to 4,600 children and 2,900 adults with diabetes from the Rocky Mountain Region as well as receiving national and international referrals. We also provide inpatient care to patients who are seen at the Children’s Hospital Colorado with any type of diabetes.
The Center’s faculty teach the medical, physician assistant, nursing, and dental students on campus. Residents and endocrinology fellows train at the Center on elective rotations. Basic science faculty members provide mentorship to pre-doctoral students and post-doctoral fellows from around the world.
