
Tami Balavage President/Founder
PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Michael J Haller MD
MEDICAL DIRECTOR
Link: http://diabetes.ufl.edu/
Profile: diabetes.ufl.edu/research/our-team/michaelhaller/

Todd M. Brusko PhD
DIRECTOR
Links: diabetes.ufl.edu
Article by Dr. Brusko: Engineering Immune Cells To Stop Autoimmune Attacks Causing T1D
Lecture by Dr. Brusko: Read Lecture
Profile: bruskolab.diabetes.ufl.edu/about-dr-brusko

Kristi Balavage MD
DIRECTOR
UF College of Medicine
Class of 2018
ktbalavage@ufl.edu

Dolph von Arx
Dolph and Sharon von Arx have been philanthropic and service pillars of the Naples area for more than thirty years during which time numerous organizations have benefited from their generosity which, in turn, has enriched our community greatly. Organizations and institutions that have been fortunate to work closely alongside The von Arx Family Foundation include the Naples Accelerator, Conservancy of Southwest Florida, Youth Haven, The Shelter for Abused Women and Children, The Community Foundation of Collier County, Hodges University, The Naples Museum of Art, The Naples Philharmonic Center for the Arts and NCH Healthcare Systems, where Mr. von Arx served for 11 years as Chairman of the Board and now, Help a Diabetic Child. Dolph and Sharon have been in leadership positions in almost every organization to which they have lent their names and continually strive for the betterment of our area. Serving as co-chairs of the Annual Florida Diabetes and Wellness Conference has raised the bar of this conference’s goals, which are to educate the public and medical community about the latest in diabetes research, treatment and prevention and to help further establish the conference as an annual mainstay event at Florida Southwestern State College.

John Reisman
DIRECTOR
Since April 1994, John has overseen the Florida operations, which have been responsible for permitting and building over 2,000 homes and apartments. John is a resident of Naples, Florida, where he currently lives with his two daughters, Julia and Jayda.

Nicole Johnson, DrPH, MPH, MA
Nicole is the National Director of Express Feedback for Good at HundredX where she focuses on building relationships with non-profit organizations to amplify their audience engagement and fundraising strategies.
Over the years, Nicole has served on many advisory boards including the Florida Governor’s Diabetes Advisory Council, the NIH Council of Public Representatives and the national boards for both the American Diabetes Association and JDRF. Nicole has been recognized for her work around the world. She is a recipient of the Charles H. Best Medal for Distinguished Service in the Cause of Diabetes, the C. Everett Koop Medal for Health Promotion and has been recognized by the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health and Regent University.
She has a Doctor of Public Health degree, as well as Master’s degrees in Public Health and Communication.

Desmond Schatz MD
DIRECTOR

Lowell Lohman
DIRECTOR
Throughout his career Lowellfocused on business management as well as sales and marketing. He created a cemetery industry sales manual that continues to be referenced today. He shared his business wisdom and expertise in both training reference manuals and through regularly taught training sessions. His training classes have continued to be taught through a series of video recorded training sessions. His “teach and share” mentality and business advice has been captured in his book.
Lowell was president and CEO of the largest, private family-owned operator of funeral homes and cemeteries in Florida with 34 locations. Since the sale of their funeral properties, Lowell, his son Ty and wife Nancy have bought and sold over 24 apartment complexes in Orlando, Jacksonville and Daytona Beach totaling more than 4,000 apartments. In the last year and a half, they have sold 15 apartment complexes for over $200 million.
Lowell served on the board of directors of several state cemetery and funeral associations. He has been master of ceremonies and a keynote speaker at numerous state and national trade association meetings as well as entrepreneur conferences and summits, particularly on leadership. He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Florida Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association. He also received the Mayor’s Award for Civic Engagement and received the Halifax Humane Society’s humanitarian awards.
Lowell was the captain of his Vero Beach High School baseball team with a school-record batting average of .509. He was captain and quarterback of his high schoolfootball team as well and voted most athletic in his high school class. He attended college on a baseball scholarship, was captain of his college baseball team and voted Most Valuable Playerstriking out 19 batters in one game, a school record. Lowell quarterbacked a competitive 7-on-7 flag football teamand was inducted into both theU.S. Touch & Flag Football Hall of Fame and the FL Flag Football Hall of Fame. He was a two-time National Flag Football MVP and quarterbacked his team when they won the national flag football championship.

Jon Piganelli PhD
DIRECTOR

Michael Balavage
DIRECTOR

David Wagner PhD
DIRECTOR
Profile: www.ucdenver.edu

David Marrero PhD
DIRECTOR
Dr. Marrero, whose research has focused on medication adherence, community health programs, early diabetes intervention and translational medicine, also is professor of public health at the UA Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, Department of Health Promotion Sciences, and professor in the UA College of Medicine Tucson, Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology.
The Center will focus on building extensive collaborative efforts to affect the treatment of type 2 diabetes in border populations. Working with the Arizona Area Health Education Centers (AzAHEC) and other UAHS centers, the Center for Border Health is establishing Regional Arizona Centers of Excellence in Clinical Research (or RACER sites) in Yuma and Nogales to provide mental health services for individuals with diabetes and to develop culturally appropriate and relevant training programs.
Dr. Marrero joins the UA Health Sciences after 20 years at Indiana University, where he served as director of its Diabetes Translational Research Center and the J.O. Ritchey Professor of Medicine. He was instrumental in the development of a Diabetes Prevention Program and the TRIAD study, which evaluated strategies to improve diabetes care delivery in managed-care settings, among many other achievements.
Twice awarded the Allene Von Son Award for Diabetes Patient Education Tools by the American Association of Diabetes Educators, Dr. Marrero has been nominated to Who’s Who in Medicine and Health Care in 2000, served as the associate editor for Diabetes Care (1997-2002) and is the associate editor for Diabetes Forecast. He was selected for an Alumni of the Year award from the University of California, Irvine in 2006 and Outstanding Educator in Diabetes in 2008 by the American Diabetes Association. In 2016, he served as the president for health care and education of the American Diabetes Association. His research interests also include strategies for promoting diabetes prevention, improving diabetes care practices used by primary care providers and the use of technology to facilitate care and education. His clinical interests include diabetes, obesity and coping.
Dr. Marrero received a bachelor’s degree (1974), master’s degree (1978) and doctorate (1982) in social ecology from the University of California, Irvine.

Henry Rodriguez, MD
DIRECTOR
