Medha N. Munshi MD
Director, Joslin Geriatric Diabetes Programs, Joslin Diabetes Center; Geriatrician, Division of Gerontology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MassachusettsDr. Munshi is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School. She is a geriatrician and an endocrinologist. She developed and now directs geriatric diabetes program at the Joslin Diabetes Center. This is an interdisciplinary program beyond the traditional diabetes clinic that considers clinical, functional and psychosocial barriers faced by older adults before formulating individualized treatment strategies.
The primary focus of Dr. Munshi’s clinical research is to identify challenges faced by older individuals with diabetes, to develop strategies to overcome these barriers, and to improve clinical and functional outcomes, including quality of life. One of the important areas for her investigation has been on the risks and poor outcomes of hypoglycemia in aging population. Her research team has performed several studies using continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) to detect unrecognized hypoglycemia in older population, and improving the frequency of hypoglycemia by simplifying treatment regimen. The algorithm to simplify insulin regimen developed by this study is now adapted in the Medical Standards of Care by the American Diabetes Association. Recent focus of her team is to assess the use of technology to improve diabetes care and quality of life in older adults with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. She has co-edited 2 textbooks on the topic of geriatric diabetes and has contributed many chapters on this topic. Under the umbrella of the International Diabetes Federation, she co-authored the global guidelines on managing older people with type-2 diabetes. She also co-authored the consensus report on diabetes management in community-living older adults and the position statement for diabetes management in the LTC facilities published by the American Diabetes Association. She chaired the committee to author the Joslin Diabetes Center guidelines for the care of the older adults with diabetes. She has published many papers of original investigation on the subject of geriatric diabetes and has presented nationally and internationally on this topic.