OUR MISSION. OUR VISION. OUR STORY.

OUR MISSION

Guided by the belief that every person with diabetes has the right to live a healthy, happy, and productive life, Taking Control Of Your Diabetes® educates and motivates people with diabetes to take a more active role in their condition and provides innovative and integrative continuing education to medical professionals caring for people with diabetes.

OUR VISION

For all people with diabetes and their loved ones to have full access to proper education and therapy to aid in the prevention, early detection and aggressive management of diabetes and its complications.

OUR STORY

Since 1995, Taking Control Of Your Diabetes® has been transforming the way people from around the world live with diabetes by encouraging them to take a more active role in their condition through education, motivation, empowerment and humor.
The creation of TCOYD® started out as a desire for more. Founder and Director Dr. Steve Edelman, a type 1 himself, wanted to bring diabetes education directly to those most affected by it, the people living with diabetes. He became an endocrinologist with the goal of providing education, motivation, and empowerment to help the diabetes community understand that people living with diabetes can live a happy, healthy life. He then joined forces with Sandra Bourdette, who was a pharmaceutical rep at the time, to bring the vision to life and to help launch the not-for-profit, Taking Control Of Your Diabetes®.
TCOYD® began in Sandy’s small beach cottage in Del Mar, California but set its sights on doing big things. In 1995 TCOYD® hosted its first conference at the San Diego Convention Center. This event set a new standard for cutting-edge education, humorous presentation styles, and opening communication lines with patients—and sent ripples throughout the diabetes community. The San Diego conference became the flagship program for the organization, which over the last 25+ years has expanded into both in-person and virtual international events reaching over 500,000 people from over 100 countries and all 50 states.
In 2005 TCOYD® launched its continuing medical education program for healthcare professionals providing cutting-edge education on the most up-to-date care and management strategies presented by world-class key opinion leaders to healthcare professions. TCOYD® has continued to grow its CME program hosting both in-person and virtual events in a variety of educational and interactive formats to healthcare professionals from around the world.
Through one-of-a-kind conferences, interactive online programs, a content-rich website full of expertly-produced videos and informative articles, and supportive online community groups, TCOYD® has become the go-to resource for the diabetes community.
Founder Dr. Steve Edelman has always made sure to keep it light and entertaining in order to make a difficult subject palatable. His unique approach to humor, incorporated by the thousands of expert speakers, has defined our community’s experience and set the organization apart. The TCOYD® mission, experience, and way of life gives every person affected with diabetes the freedom to have fun, take control, and be you!

OUR FOUNDER’S STORY

The year was 1970. A gallon of gas cost 36 cents, the very first Earth Day was celebrated and the smooth iconic sound of the Beatles song, “Let it Be” lingered on the radio waves. It also happened to be the year that the TCOYD® story truly begins and the year one man’s mission began to take shape.
Steve Edelman was 15 years old. He lost 20 pounds in just a few weeks, developed an unquenchable thirst and a desperate need to sleep. What he didn’t know at the time was that his pancreas had stopped producing insulin. The weeks progressed, his symptoms did not relent, and he eventually went to the doctor just in time to sidestep a diabetic coma. He emerged from the ICU a few weeks later with the diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. Steve was given strict instructions from his doctor to take one shot of insulin per day in the morning, follow a strict diet, test his urine for glucose four times a day, and keep stringent records.
As the years continued to pass, Steve developed an intense passion for the sciences and decided to go to medical school. He completed his undergraduate premedical studies at the University of California, Los Angeles and during that time became increasingly interested in endocrinology. By watching and learning from his mentors, Steve slowly started to get on track with his own diabetes complications. He began to realize that one shot of insulin a day was totally inadequate and subsequently he slowly started to improve his own regimen to allow for better control.
Steve entered his first year of medical school in 1978 at the University California, Davis. He distinctly remembers sitting in a lecture hall teaming with eager medical students and listening to his professor cite statistics from a textbook about the high death rate in people with diabetes. At that moment the feeling in the room suddenly changed, a tension rose and bloomed, and Steve knew that everyone in his class was desperately trying not to look at him. His professor went on to state that 50% of people with diabetes die from diabetic kidney disease within 20 years after their initial diagnosis. Later that afternoon in his physiology laboratory, he had to dissect the cadaver of a 25-year-old male who had died of diabetic kidney disease; Steve was 23 at the time with eight years of diabetes behind him. At that moment his life’s purpose began to sharpen and he knew that he would forever be linked to a mission of improving his health, the health of others with diabetes, and the medical system behind it all.
After his medical residency at UCLA and his fellowship at the Joslin Diabetes Clinic in Boston, the now Doctor Edelman, started giving lectures to the patients with diabetes at the Joslin Clinic. He noticed that individuals with diabetes all expressed a similar intense need for knowledge about their disease and how to effectively manage it.  Steve eventually moved to San Diego and began teaching at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. He soon realized that his passion was to help people with diabetes in a first-hand fashion, to speak directly to them, and give them the most cutting-edge information and knowledge that would help them live long and healthy lives with diabetes. Thus, Taking Control Of Your Diabetes® (TCOYD®) was born.
In 1995 Dr. Edelman founded TCOYD®, a San Diego based not-for-profit organization with a mission to educate, inspire, and motivate people with diabetes.
From the time of his diagnosis in 1970 until today, he has never allowed diabetes to define his life. Instead, he spends his life’s work defining a new way to teach individuals how to live a healthy and happy life with diabetes.

– MAKING LIVING WITH DIABETES BETTER SINCE 1995 –

With your support we have achieved…

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OVER 10 MILLION
TCOYD® Programming Views

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OVER 450
TCOYD® Programs

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PARTICIPANTS FROM OVER
100 Countries + All 50 US States