Dr. Allyson Hughes, who is an Assistant Professor at Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine in the department of Primary Care. She holds a PhD in Health Psychology and Masters in Clinical Psychology from the University of Texas at El Paso. She is a diabetes behavioral medicine expert in health equity and disability. As a national leader in diabetes with over 30 years of lived experience. Her work focuses on understanding health equity for people with diabetes and disabilities and her work has highlighted how the US medical system fails to support and care for people living with both diabetes and disabilities. Dr. Hughes is an expert in both qualitative and quantitative research methods to describe and explore the lived experience of people with diabetes. She serves as Associate Editor for Diabetes Care. She is co-chair of the American Diabetes Association’s Health Access committee.