Melanie Warziski Turk
Duquesne University, PA·Public Health & Epidemiology
Nearly half of U.S. adults aged 65 and older, more than 24 million people, have prediabetes.
- Fields
Public Health & Epidemiology
Medicine & Clinical Research
Social Science
- Topics
prediabetes
type 2 diabetes
diabetes prevention
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jun 2027
What they work on
- Identify barriers and facilitators to using the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program (MDPP) through about 15 interviews each with MDPP and NDPP suppliers, MDPP participants, and eligible non-participants, plus CFIR-based surveys of program suppliers.
- Determine which awareness and recruitment strategies MDPP suppliers use and which enroll the most older adults, using a national web-based survey of 80 suppliers.
- Determine what encourages or blocks referral of older adults with prediabetes to the MDPP by surveying 200 physicians and advanced practice providers and interviewing about 30 of them in depth.
More about the research
This condition often leads to type 2 diabetes and to heart and blood-vessel disease. Since 2018, Medicare has covered the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program (MDPP), a proven lifestyle program for people at risk. It is the first disease-prevention program Medicare covers, but it is often unavailable and rarely used, and no one yet knows why.
Why it matters
Type 2 diabetes accounts for about $74 billion in yearly Medicare medical costs, and a covered prevention program goes largely unused. Identifying why older adults, providers and program suppliers do not engage with the MDPP could guide strategies to expand it and lower the risk of diabetes and heart disease for millions of older adults. Because Medicare coverage is not yet permanent, this evidence could also help preserve the benefit and support coverage of other prevention programs.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Anna Gorczyca
University of Kansas, KS·Public Health & Epidemiology
Compare 12-month weight change in rural Kansas adults with prediabetes who receive the National Diabetes Prevention Program from Extension coaches by live group video versus an online health app.
Sarah Lord
Dartmouth College, NH·Public Health & Epidemiology
Provide hybrid in-person and virtual training, mentoring and consultation so center investigators gain practical skills in implementation research, with recorded sessions posted online.
Dovie Watson
University of Pennsylvania, PA·Public Health & Epidemiology·Early-career
Identify changeable provider-, practice-, and community-level factors that affect PrEP delivery in primary care, using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR), a structured list of factors that shape program adoption.
The school
Duquesne University: 3 labs on PI Pages, $18M a year on research, 90 research doctorates a year.
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