A first of its kind association in the country for the professionals in the field of diabetes education, the Indian Association of Diabetes Educators (IADE), has taken off.

The association, planned to be modelled after the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) was officially launched during the national workshop on diabetes education in Chennai this week, organized by the Madras Diabetes Research Association (MDRF) and the American Association of Diabetes Educators.

According to the organizers, the headquarters of the association will be based at Mumbai and Dr. Shasankar Joshi, consultant and endocrinologist, Leelavathi hospital, Mumbai will be the founder president of IADE. Dr. Saroja Raghavan, head, department of Nutrition and Dietetics, MDRF and Shilpa Joshi, research associate, Asian Healthcare, Mumbai will be among the office bearers.

The aim of the association is to bring together Indian health professionals, nurses, dieticians and nutritionists interested in diabetes care education to a single platform, to train them professionally and to improve the quality of diabetes care in the country.

Mary M Austin, president AADE, Catherine J Tibbetts, president, Healthcare and Education Section, ADA, Carolyn Leontos, professor and nutrition specialist, University of Nevada Co-operative Extension etc attended the workshop.