Jennifer Saylor and Annalisa Ekbladh of the University of Delaware have been appointed to the Campus Advisory Committee of the College Diabetes Network.

The news came while the pair attended at a recent national committee gathering in Boston. At the multiday meeting, the discussion centered on a comprehensive assessment of the unmet needs of young adults with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes on U.S. college campuses.

Saylor, an assistant professor in the School of Nursing, and Annalisa Ekbladh, a program manager for the Center for Disabilities Studies, have one important thing in common — a passion for helping students with diabetes.

Saylor’s research centers on young adults with Type 1 diabetes in the college environment. For the past eight years, she has served as the director of Kamp for Kids, a diabetes camp for children held in Newark.

Over the past half-decade, Ekbladh has developed programs that support and educate families and young adults with Type 1 diabetes as they transition to college and adult life.

Although both work for UD, it was Ekbladh’s daughter Julia Murphy who brought the team together. Murphy has Type 1 diabetes and was a camper and later a counselor at Kamp for Kids.

Since their introduction, the pair combined forces to integrate Ekbladh’s programmatic initiatives and qualitative expertise with Saylor’s experience and research on diabetes. As part of their collaboration, they have frequently engaged with the College Diabetes Network, the only national nonprofit working specifically dedicated to supporting college students with diabetes.

In July, Saylor and Ekbladh joined select group of multidisciplinary campus professionals and organizational partners. The group developed a strategic program to identify and address improvements needed on college campuses related to students with diabetes.

As part of the Campus Advisory Committee, they will continue to work with College Diabetes Network to develop and research targeted campus interventions and policy changes.

Back in Delaware, Saylor and Ekbladh plan to pursue additional research and programming to improve the lives of college students living with diabetes.