Dr. Francesco Vendrame Receives Principal Investigator Award

For his work in quality improvement in Type 1 diabetes and his exceptional leadership, Francesco Vendrame, M.D., assistant professor of medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine’s Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, has been chosen for this year’s T1D Exchange Outstanding Adult Principal Investigator Award.

The T1D Exchange is the nation’s most trusted provider of diabetes education, research, resources, and services, consisting of more than 50 researchers in the T1D Exchange Quality Improvement Network (T1DX-QI). Each year the organization recognizes an outstanding PI who has expanded quality improvement (QI) capacity and modeled QI methodologies in a clinical setting.

“I was honored to receive this award amidst such an amazing group of people,” Dr. Vendrame said. “It’s exciting and inspiring being part of such a tremendous community that strives to make a meaningful impact in the lives of people with Type 1 diabetes.”

Data Implementation

Dr. Vendrame has been a part of the T1D Exchange since 2015 while conducting high-quality research as a site investigator at the Miller School. At the time, the exchange consisted of pediatric and adult clinics across the U.S.; it later evolved into the T1DX-QI, which Dr. Vendrame was invited to join in 2020, focusing on the Miller School’s adult population.

Because the T1DX-QI aims to share data and best practices for improving care delivery to people with Type 1 diabetes, Dr. Vendrame’s work mapping data with his IT team and leading QI interventions to support patients in his clinic specifically stood out.

Dr. Vendrame supervised a process of data mapping that involves collecting de-identified data from populations to become part of a national database used to guide QI interventions at local and national levels. In addition, Dr. Vendrame created a QI team and worked on projects aimed at facilitated data capture in the clinic and improve remote data sharing for patients with Type 1 diabetes on insulin pump therapy.

“As we move into 2023, we will continue to work on projects aimed at improving the quality of care that we deliver to adult patients with Type 1 diabetes,” Dr. Vendrame said. “We plan to expand our team by involving other colleagues, and in addition to the grant we have obtained from the T1D Exchange, we will also look for additional funding opportunities.”

Tags: Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Division of Endocrinology Diabetes and Metabolism, Dr. Francesco Vendrame, Miller School of Medicine, T1D Exchange, type 1 diabetes