Bio
Dr. Dessi P. Zaharieva is an Instructor, Certified Exercise Physiologist (CEP), and Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist (CDCES) currently working in Pediatric Endocrinology at Stanford University – School of Medicine in collaboration with Dr. David M. Maahs, Division Chief of Pediatric Endocrinology. Her research focuses on strategies to manage blood glucose concentrations around exercise in youth and adults with type 1 diabetes. She is currently the Principal Investigator (PI) of the 4T Exercise Study that implements exercise education and monitors physical activity patterns in newly diagnosed youth with type 1 diabetes with support from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. She is also working on integrating wearable physical activity tracker data (e.g., heart rate, step count, energy expenditure) and continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) data into the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) and our Timely Interventions for Diabetes Excellence (TIDE) remote monitoring platform. This data overlay will allow healthcare professionals and diabetes educators to visualize and integrate exercise discussions into standard diabetes care visits.
Dr. Zaharieva completed her Ph.D. at York University in Toronto, Canada under the supervision of leading exercise physiologist, Dr. Michael C. Riddell. She has published numerous research articles on glucose regulation and exercise with topics ranging from the effects of caffeine on exercise metabolism to hypoglycemia prevention strategies using automated insulin delivery systems (i.e., closed loop technology) during exercise. She has also served as a regular presenter at academic conferences and various industry partners on the use of technology to better manage diabetes and volunteers with non-profit organizations such as I Challenge Diabetes (ICD) and Connect in Motion (CIM).
Dr. Zaharieva has also been living with type 1 diabetes for over 25 years and is a second-degree black belt in taekwondo and blue belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu. She has represented Team Canada in taekwondo for many years and earned a bronze medal at the World Championships in 2013. Dr. Zaharieva has a passion for helping people like herself better manage their diabetes, especially with the challenges faced during exercise.
