UF: The diabetes epidemic: controlling, curing and preventing

I asked Dr. Mark Atkinson if I could spend the day with him. I figured if anyone could help me understand how the world of diabetes research worked, it was someone who has spent 30 years trying to figure out what causes Type 1 diabetes.

Atkinson explained that he doesn’t spend his days looking through microscopes, meeting with patients, or checking on mice in a lab. He’s more like the guy in charge of determining what research should be pursued, bringing the right people together, and writing up what has been discovered. His days and nights are spent in meetings, on the phone, working on his computer, answering emails, traveling around the globe.