William Howard Polonsky PhD, CDCES

Dr. Polonsky is President and Founder of the Behavioral Diabetes Institute, the world’s first organization totally dedicated to studying and addressing the unmet psychological needs of people with diabetes. He is also an Associate Clinical Professor in Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego.

Dr. Polonsky received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Yale University and has served as Senior Psychologist at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, as a faculty member at Harvard Medical School, and as Chairman of the National Certification Board for Diabetes Educators. A licensed clinical psychologist and certified diabetes educator, he received the American Diabetes Association’s 2014 Richard R. Rubin Award for distinguished contributions to behavioral medicine and psychology.

His most recent research projects have focused on quality of life in diabetes, diabetes-related distress, and depression, hypoglycemic fear, blood glucose monitoring behavior and attitudes in people living with diabetes, physician and lay attitudes towards insulin and oral medications, group-based behavior change programs, the influence of continuous glucose monitoring on quality of life, and emotional and behavioral responses to the diagnosis of diabetes. A licensed clinical psychologist and certified diabetes educator, Dr. Polonsky has also authored several books for the lay audience (e.g., Diabetes Burnout: What to Do When You Can’t Take it Anymore) and co-edited several others for healthcare professionals (e.g., A CORE Curriculum for Diabetes Education).