About Us
We are a team of doctors and scientists at the Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes in the School of Medicine at the University of Colorado who have worked on understanding childhood autoimmune diseases for over 25 years.
The Autoimmunity Screening for Kids (ASK) Program is built on our expertise in:
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Identifying children who are likely to get Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) months to years before they get ill;
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Monitoring them and educating family members how to prevent serious complications;
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Trying safe, novel interventions to prevent diabetes;
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Helping kids with undiagnosed Celiac Disease (CD) to get the best treatment and monitoring.
Our mission with ASK is to bring awareness to the community of the importance of Type 1 Diabetes and Celiac Disease—the two most common autoimmune diseases of childhood—and to reduce health risks of delayed diagnosis of these diseases.
We will do this by:
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Finding children in the community who are at risk for T1D or CD
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Providing education and monitoring for those who have early T1D or CD to slow the progression of disease and prevent complication.
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Assessing the benefits and cost-effectiveness of universal screening for early T1D and CD.
ASK Goals:
Find early signs of diabetes or celiac in children—before they get very sick.
Offer close monitoring, education and early treatment, when needed (such as TESS).
Offer participation in studies of new interventions that might stop or slow progression of disease.
Increase public awareness of Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) and Celiac Disease (CD).
The ASK Program is led by Dr. Marian Rewers,
Executive Director, Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes
Dr. Rewers is directing a clinical team of 25 physicians/scientists and over 120 ancillary and research staff serving a population of 6,000 children and adults with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D), mostly from the Western U.S.
He is the principal investigator of ASK and of two large NIH-funded studies:
The Diabetes Autoimmunity Study in the Young (DAISY) has screened for diabetes genes over 31,000 newborns from families where nobody has diabetes as well as over 1,800 young relatives of people with the disease. Over 2,500 high-risk infants have been followed for up to 17 years to learn how genes and the environment interact to trigger the onset of Type 1 Diabetes.
The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young (TEDDY) includes centers from Colorado, Washington, Georgia/Florida, Germany, Finland, and Sweden. Dr. Rewers is heading the Colorado center as well as co-chairing the Steering Committee of TEDDY. This is the most comprehensive effort ever funded to identify environmental triggers of Type 1 Diabetes. This study has screened over 424,000 newborns and is following 8,677 of those with the highest risk genes.
Dr. Marian Rewers
THE BARBARA DAVIS CENTER FOR DIABETES
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 4,200 children and 2,800 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.
ASK Study Group:
Marian Rewers, MD, PhD, PI, Kimberly Bautista, MPH, Judith Baxter, MA, Daniel Felipe-Morales, BS, Fran Dong, MS, Kimberly Driscoll, PhD, Brigitte Frohnert, MD, PhD, Cristy Geno Rasmussen, PhD, MPH, Patricia Gesualdo, RN, MSPH, Michelle Hoffman, RN, Rachel Karban, MPH, Holly O’Donnell, PhD, Meghan Pauley, DO, Flor Sepulveda, BS, Crystal Silva, Kimber Simmons, MD, Andrea Steck, MD, Iman Taki, MPH, Kathleen Waugh, MS, Xiaofan Jia, MD, Liping Yu, MD, Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes, University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, United States.
Edwin Liu, MD, and Marisa Stahl, MD, Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, Children’s Hospital Colorado, Aurora, CO, United States.
R. Brett McQueen, PhD, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Aurora, CO, United States. Jill M. Norris, PhD, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Colorado School of Public Health, Aurora, CO, United States.
Holly Frost, MD, Sonja O'Leary, MD, Denver Health and Hospital, Denver, CO, United States.
Martha Middlemist, MD, Pediatrics 5280, Centennial, CO, United States.
The ASK Study (SRA-2018-564-M-N and SRA-2021-1065-M-N) is funded by JDRF International, The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, and Janssen Research and Development, LLC.
The authors have no relevant conflict of interest to disclose.
Ask the Experts is a program for health care providers and individuals/families living in the United States who screen positive for type 1 diabetes (T1D) associated antibodies or celiac disease. Together with our national network of clinical and research partners, we provide: (1) education and support, (2) monitoring guidance and resources, and (3) access to early treatment interventions.