About the Authors
Stephanie A. Eisenstat MD is a practicing internist and medical educator in the Department of Medicine, General Medicine Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School (HMS) and Scholar in the Academy at Harvard Medical School, a division dedicated to quality improvement in medical education.
For the past 20 years, Dr. Eisenstat's work has been focused on improving the quality of medical care and education in underdeveloped areas, such as Women's Health Medicine and Diabetes in Women, through publication, broad-based interdisciplinary service, course development, the education of patients and their medical care providers and evaluation of the efficacy of educational programs.
Dr. Eisenstat is a national leader in Women's Health; in addition to Every Women's Guide to Diabetes, she is editor and author of The Primary Care of Women, (Mosby Publishers, 1995; Harcourt Press, 2004) the first academic textbook in Women's Health Medicine, now in its third edition; author of The Harvard Guide to Women's Health (Harvard University Press 1996, Ed 2, 2004), the first medical resource guide in Women's Health for patients; The Women's Concise Guide to a Healthier Heart and The Women's Concise Guide to Emotional Well Being (both Harvard University Press 1996, 1997).
In 2002, Dr. Eisenstat was accepted as a Scholar into the Academy at Harvard Medical School, a new department at Harvard Medical School dedicated to quality improvement for medical student training. Through the Academy, she was awarded a grant 2002, 2003 and 2004 to launch a redesign effort specifically in the area of Diabetes Education, which remains Dr. Eisenstat's primary area of focus today. She created a multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary faculty consortium comprised of clinical and research leaders in the field with the goal to improve medical students' competencies through a teaching model that easily integrates science and patho-physiology into practical application, community clinical management and patient advocacy and helps students to understand their crucial role in promoting patient self management of chronic disease.
This educational endeavor complements her on-going clinical quality development work at Women's Health Associates, MGH as coordinator of the Diabetes in Women Education Series, Diabetes Group Medical Visits and Director of Diabetes Patient Physician Partnership for Better Education, a patient-physician advocacy group dedicated to improving service and education for those with Diabetes. Outcomes of this group include Diabetes Webcast, interactive clinical case teaching via internet, and the Diabetes Connector, the prototype for a web based patient portal to understand and manage Diabetes and promote self management. The aim of this effort is to create a seamless and connected electronic health care information system for patients with diabetes and their medical providers. She is co-investigator on a project sponsored by the Ambulatory Care Practice of the Future, MGH implementing a cell phone based communications technology to enhance Diabetes self management by patients and physicians.
Ellen Barlow is a medical writer and owner of Barlow Communications.
David M. Nathan, M.D., is Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and Director of the Diabetes Center at MGH. He is the author of
Disclaimer: This book and web site are meant to educate, but should not be used as a substitute for personal medical advice. Readers should consult their physicians for specific information concerning their individual medical conditions. The authors have done their best to ensure that the information presented here is accurate up to the time of publication. However, as research and development are ongoing, it is possible that new findings may supersede some of the data presented here.
