Diabetes researcher's double delight
May 2008
A medic whose research has helped millions of diabetes sufferers across the world for three decades has been given two prestigious awards by his peers in the field.Professor Andrew Boulton at the Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences has been presented with the first ever Outstanding Achievement Award by the American Professional Wound Care Association. The award was given for his lifetime commitment to research into diabetic foot disorders, describing him as “a true world opinion leader who continues to educate the global medical community and benefit millions of individuals with this condition”.
Professor Boulton, the only non-American to chair an interest group for the American Diabetes Association, has been awarded its Harold Rifkin Award for Distinguished International Service. The award, named after a former president of the ADA, is given to those whose outstanding service in the cause of diabetes has been performed with an international perspective and with international impact.
Diabetes is a fast growing problem worldwide due to the Westernisation of the developing world – as diets and lifestyles become more Westernised, the people develop problems such as diabetes. His research at Manchester DIALEX (Diabetes Lower Extremity Research Group), based at the Manchester Royal Infirmary, has shown that 20% of diabetics develop active foot problems such as ulceration and 20% of those have to undergo amputation. The majority of the rest have significant risk factors such as arterial disease.
Professor Boulton, who has also been awarded several NIH grants and Diabetes UK funding to investigate maggots' ability to combat MRSA, said: “It has been a good year all round for us, but the important thing for me is to continue helping people who face such debilitating problems due to their diabetes. It is a growing problem and its effects need to be addressed.”
Professor Boulton was also the first Awardee of the International Award into Diabetic Foot Research and has received the Castelli-Pedroli Prize from the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, the Roger Pecoraro Award from the American Diabetes Association and the Edward Olmos Award for Advocacy in the Prevention of Amputation in Diabetes.
