In this week’s issue of The Savvy Diabetic:
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- Insulet hires first chief R&D officer amid growing competition
- Modular Medical Announces FDA Submission of Pivot Insulin Patch Pump
- CEO vows to put patients first
- 4 surprising health benefits of drinking coffee
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- News from T1Dto100
- Webinar Recording: Let’s Talk T1D & Mental Health
- Diabetes Heat Safety Guide
- Research Study: A Successful Diabetes Management Model of Care in Long-Term Care Facilities
- News from T1Dto100
Insulet hires first chief R&D officer amid growing competition by Elise Reuter for MedTechDIve.com, 23 June 2026.
Insulet hired Divakar Ramakrishnan as its first chief research and development officer. Ramakrishnan will lead global product development and Insulet’s research and development as it faces growing competition from other insulin pump makers. “This is an important milestone in our efforts to strengthen Insulet’s innovation capabilities in support of accelerating our exciting pipeline to reach even more people with diabetes around the world,” an Insulet spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement.
Ramakrishnan’s background includes working at medical device firm Convatec as chief science, innovation and quality officer, according to his LinkedIn profile. Prior to working for Convatec, Ramakrishnan was chief digital officer at Eli Lilly.
Read more: Insulet hires first chief R&D officer amid growing competition
Modular Medical Announces FDA Submission of Pivot Tubeless Insulin Patch Pump Enhancements by BioSpace.com, 1 July 2026.
Modular Medical, Inc., a leader in innovative, patient-centric insulin delivery technology, announced submission to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) of a series of software enhancements to its PivotTM insulin delivery system, providing users with more customization options and user-interface (UI) improvements, as well as other software upgrades.
“This submission is the first of a series of further improvements and upgrades planned for the Pivot platform, now that our core form factor has been cleared by the FDA and is in the market. I want to congratulate our whole team for getting this submission in so quickly after the initial Pivot clearance,” said Jeb Besser, Chief Executive Officer of Modular Medical. “We look forward to getting feedback from the FDA in the coming weeks.”
Cigna’s CEO vows to put patients first. Wall Street is watching by John Tozzi & Ike Swetlitz for Bloomberg.com, 1 July 2026.
Brian Evanko, Cigna Group’s new chief executive officer, said he aims to put patients at the center of the company’s strategy. He’ll have to convince people struggling with rising healthcare costs that he’s serious — and persuade Wall Street that this strategy can be profitable.
That’s been a difficult balancing act for Cigna. Last year the company announced that it would phase out rebate payments from drug companies in many of its prescription plans, pulling back from a “middleman” practice the Trump administration has criticized. Cigna said this would lower patient costs and only temporarily shrink profits. But investors punished Cigna with its worst selloff in 17 years. Its shares still haven’t recovered.
It’s a tension Evanko will have to navigate beginning Wednesday when he becomes the public face of Cigna, a giant in medical insurance, prescription drug benefits and specialized pharmacy services. Insurers are under fire in Washington for high costs. Employer clients are balking at premium hikes. Patients are frustrated with spending-control tactics like prior approvals. And investors are wary that addressing those concerns could erode profits.
Evanko said he’s focused on making Cigna more responsive to the 185 million people who use its healthcare services, the bulk of whom have prescription drug coverage managed by the business. “For me, coming into the role, importantly, we’re going to put the customer at the center of everything we do, so being patient-first,” Evanko, 50, said in a recent interview at Bloomberg’s New York headquarters. “We see that as actually a strategic choice.”
Read more: Cigna’s CEO vows to put patients first. Wall Street is watching Requires a free subscription to Modern Healthcare
4 surprising (and evidence-based) health benefits of drinking coffee by Anahad O’Connor for WashingtonPost.com, 2 July 2026. Hundreds of studies have shown that a cup of joe — or more! — every day may protect against some major diseases.
Coffee has wide-ranging effects on your health. Coffee is, arguably, the world’s most scientifically scrutinized beverage. Researchers have collectively carried out thousands of studies looking at its effects on lifespan, to cardiovascular health, blood sugar levels, weight loss, cancer risk and more. Coffee contains more than 1,000 chemical compounds, many of which are active in the body, such as magnesium, potassium, niacin and other B vitamins.
For a while, scientists suspected that drinking coffee was hazardous to your health. In 1991, the World Health Organization listed coffee as “possibly” carcinogenic because of studies linking it to bladder cancer. Other studies suggested that drinking coffee might also increase the risk of lung cancer. Then scientists realized that, in some cases, they had mistaken correlation for causation.
In the decades since, hundreds of studies have painted coffee in a different light, showing that it may be protective against some major diseases, including several cancers. As scientists began to take a closer look at the compounds in coffee, they discovered that a number of them have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties.
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- One of the most consistent findings is that drinking coffee is good for your liver, said Rob van Dam, a professor at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University.
- Many studies have found that coffee drinkers have lower rates of liver cancer, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, liver cirrhosis and other forms of liver disease. Coffee consumption is also associated with lower liver enzyme levels, which is typically an indication that your liver is healthy and not stressed.
- Coffee’s ability to improve insulin sensitivity may also explain why researchers have found that coffee drinkers are less prone to developing Type 2 diabetes.
- One of the most surprising and consistent findings about coffee consumption is that it lowers your risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. Scientists think this is in large part due to the caffeine in coffee.
- Exercising on a daily basis is one of the best things you can do for your health. And one way to get more exercise is to drink coffee.
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Read more: 4 surprising health benefits of drinking coffee
- News from T1Dto100
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- Webinar Recording: Let’s Talk T1D & Mental Health with Jenna Eisenberg, Tuesday, 30 June 2026
T1Dto100 kicks off a new series with Part One of “Let’s Talk T1D & Mental Health,” led by Jenna Eisenberg, MS, LMFT, a Denver-area therapist who has lived with T1D for 50 years this year.-
- Diabetes Heat Safety Guide
It’s hot out there. And when you’re managing diabetes, heat is more than a comfort issue. High temperatures can change how insulin works in your body, throw off blood sugars, and quietly ruin insulin, test strips, and devices left in the sun or a hot car. With rising heat from coast to coast and across the globe, check out this helpful guide from our friends at Integrated Diabetes Services on staying safe in the heat.-
- Research Study – A Successful Diabetes Management Model of Care in Long-Term Care Facilities
This study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association (JAMDA) in 2021, describes a practical diabetes care program developed and tested in six long-term care facilities. Rather than focusing only on blood sugar targets, the program trained nurses and other staff to recognize diabetes problems early, screen every new resident for their risk of high or low blood glucose, and follow standardized care protocols while tailoring treatment to each resident’s individual needs. More than 500 staff members were trained, and over 1,000 residents with diabetes were screened using this approach.
Read the study: A Successful Diabetes Management Model of Care in Long-Term Care Facilities
