ADA Scholars 2026 | On-Demand-ADA Scholars Program Part 3

Video Transcription

Video Summary

The transcript covers two main talks from an ADA Scholars program: mentoring and becoming a changemaker in diabetes care.<br /><br />Dr. Sherita Golden shared her career journey and used it to illustrate key mentorship lessons. She described how early science programs, supportive mentors, and flexibility shaped her path from aspiring pediatrician to academic endocrinologist and diabetes researcher. Her work spans hormones, cardiometabolic disease, mental health, disparities, and diabetes outcomes. She emphasized that successful careers require a “village” of mentors with different expertise, clear expectations, good communication, and mutual responsibility. She also discussed how mentors should prepare mentees for independence, including authorship, promotion, and leadership roles. In breakout exercises, participants analyzed common mentoring problems such as delayed feedback, authorship disputes, and balancing gratitude with self-advocacy. The discussion focused on communication, timelines, setting expectations early, and using external advocates when needed. Dr. Golden also advised selecting mentees carefully and prioritizing quality over quantity.<br /><br />Dr. Rosalina McCoy then spoke about being a “changemaker” in diabetes care. She framed changemakers as people who take ownership of problems others accept and act to improve patient outcomes, systems, and policy. She highlighted that meaningful change can happen through clinical care, research, policy, health systems, education, and industry. Her examples included developing community paramedicine and mobile clinic programs, improving inpatient and primary care diabetes systems, and translating research into policy changes such as insulin cost reductions. Her core message was to start with one problem, take the next step, build coalitions, and protect the “why” behind the work to sustain resilience and prevent burnout.

Keywords

mentoring

diabetes care

ADA Scholars

Dr. Sherita Golden

Dr. Rosalina McCoy

changemaker

academic endocrinology

diabetes research

mentor-mentee communication

authorship disputes

career development

health disparities

policy change

patient outcomes

burnout prevention