How Pharmacy Leadership Is Transforming Diabetes Care Across Michigan

For years, diabetes management has centered on a single metric: A1C. However, for patients living with type 2 diabetes, that number only tells part of the story.

At the University of Michigan College of Pharmacy, faculty are helping broaden the conversation around diabetes care. Through clinical practice, education, research and statewide collaboration, leaders like Dr. Heidi Diez are advancing a more holistic, patient-centered approach, one that looks beyond a lab result to address cardiovascular and kidney health, medication access, quality of life and long-term outcomes.

As a clinical pharmacist, educator and Co-Program Director of the Michigan Collaborative for Type 2 Diabetes (MCT2D), Diez is bringing that philosophy to life not just in the classroom or clinic but across hundreds of practices statewide.

A Statewide Approach to Improving Type 2 Diabetes Care

Launched in 2021, MCT2D brings together physician organizations, primary care practices, and endocrinology and nephrology specialists across Michigan. The collaborative’s shared goal is to improve care for patients with type 2 diabetes through data-driven, population health strategies.

Today, MCT2D includes more than 380 enrolled practices statewide. Together, these teams are working to expand the use of guideline-directed medications, optimize use of continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), encourage lower carbohydrate eating patterns and ultimately improve patient outcomes.

What makes MCT2D unique is not just its scale, but its approach.

“This isn’t just about managing diabetes,” Diez explains. “It’s about treating the whole patient, protecting their heart, their kidneys, and most importantly, improving their quality of life.”

That patient-centered mindset is central to Diez’s work at the College of Pharmacy, where she helps students understand the expanding role that pharmacists can play in chronic disease management and care delivery.

Elevating the Role of Pharmacists in Team-Based Care

Diez joined MCT2D as its Lead Pharmacist in 2021. One year later, she became Co-Program Director, a role that reflects both her expertise and the growing role of pharmacists in team-based care.

Her work sits at the intersection of clinical practice, education and statewide health system innovation. In clinic, she sees firsthand where patients and clinicians need additional support. Through MCT2D, she helps translate those insights into scalable solutions for practices across Michigan. In the classroom, she prepares students to step into those same roles as future pharmacy leaders. Diez also uses her leadership position to consistently advocate for pharmacists as essential members of the care team.

“Anytime I’m working with a new site, I’m always thinking about how a pharmacist could be part of the solution,” she says. “It’s about helping teams understand the full value of what pharmacists bring and how to leverage our training to improve quality measures to offset care team investment”.

Turning Innovation into Action

One of Diez’s primary professional goals is expanding the use of CGMs. These devices provide real-time insights into glucose levels, giving patients and clinicians a more complete picture of diabetes management. Diez notes, “Patients often share with her that CGMs are life-changing”.

One of Diez’s patients shared, “CGM has no side effects. I prefer the CGM over a GLP-1 medication any day of the week.”

“Many patients only check their blood sugar once a day using a glucometer, if that,” Diez explains. “With CGMs, a patient can actually see how their body responds to food, activity, stress, and medication. That ‘aha’ moment is incredibly powerful.”

Integrating CGMs into primary care isn’t always effortless. It requires workflow changes, data management, and clinician and patient education — challenges Diez takes on directly.

By developing scalable processes and sustainable support models, she is not only advancing patient care delivery but also creating real-world examples her students can use to understand how pharmacists can drive innovation in practice.

From Michigan to the National Stage

The impact of MCT2D and Diez’s contributions is gaining national attention. The collaborative has been recognized in the American Diabetes Association (ADA) Standards of Care, and its leaders have been invited to share their model with audiences across the country. Most recently, Diez co-presented an ADA webinar with colleague and MCT2D Program Director, Lauren Oshman, MD, highlighting their work to advance MCT2D and build on the vision of its founder, Caroline Richardson, MD, while showcasing Michigan’s national leadership in type 2 diabetes care.

Diez’s influence extends into research. She is the senior author on a newly accepted publication, Evaluation of clinical decision support to improve guideline directed medical therapy in patients with type 2 diabetes, in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association. She also co-presented a poster at the American Pharmacists Association Annual Meeting in Los Angeles on a process she developed in primary care that allows pharmacists to bill for CGM interpretation in collaboration with a patient’s primary care physician.

For Diez, that recognition reinforces the importance of interprofessional collaboration and the value pharmacists bring to the table.

“It shows what’s possible when pharmacists are part of the conversation,” she says.

Preparing the Next Generation for Leadership

Diez’s leadership role within MCT2D is deeply connected to her work at the College of Pharmacy. She brings her clinical and statewide collaborative experiences directly into her teaching and mentorship, giving students exposure to both patient care and large-scale health system innovation, an increasingly important combination in today’s healthcare landscape. Diez also makes a point to show students what it means to practice at the top of a pharmacist’s license.

“I want students to see the impact they can have,” she says. “Not just with individual patients, but across systems.”

In both her leadership and clinical work, Diez remains focused on improving the lives of people living with Type 2 diabetes — not only through innovative care models, but also through advocacy and community engagement. That commitment extends beyond her professional role. This year, on June 13^th, Diez participated in the American Diabetes Association’s Tour de Cure, a cycling fundraiser supporting diabetes research, education and advocacy efforts.

Faculty like Diez are not only advancing research and clinical practice, they are helping define the future of pharmacy and preparing the next generation to lead it.