Our Team

Three clinical roles, three kinds of training

Specialist endocrine and diabetes care draws on three roles. Each is trained differently and is responsible for a different part of a care plan. Depending on your condition, you may see one of them, two or all three.

Endocrinologists

An endocrinologist is a physician (MD or DO) who has completed medical school, a residency in internal medicine and then a fellowship in endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism, which usually lasts two years. Physicians who then pass the specialty board examination can be certified in endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism by the American Board of Internal Medicine.

This is the role that makes and revises the diagnosis, interprets lab and imaging results, and leads decisions about prescription treatment, such as insulin and other glucose-lowering medicines, thyroid hormone, treatment for pituitary and adrenal disorders, and medicines for bone loss. An endocrinologist leads when a diagnosis is being made or questioned and when the treatment plan changes.

Diabetes care and education specialists (CDCES)

CDCES is a certification, not a separate profession. It is held by someone who already practices in a health profession, most often nursing, dietetics or pharmacy, who has completed a required amount of diabetes care and education practice, passed a national examination set by the Certification Board for Diabetes Care and Education, and renews the credential on a fixed cycle.

This role teaches the practical skills of living with diabetes: injection and pen technique, setting up a meter or continuous glucose monitor, reading the patterns in your own data, planning for sick days, and preventing and treating low blood sugar. In many diabetes practices, the educator is the main point of contact between physician visits.

Registered dietitian nutritionists (RDN)

A registered dietitian nutritionist has completed an accredited program in nutrition and dietetics (new candidates now need a graduate degree), a period of supervised practice and a national examination run by the Commission on Dietetic Registration, and holds a state license where the state requires one. Only people registered with the Commission may use the RD or RDN credential. The word nutritionist on its own is regulated far less consistently.

A dietitian provides medical nutrition therapy: carbohydrate counting, meal timing around medication, eating plans for pregnancy or kidney disease, and fitting all of it around a budget, a culture and a work schedule. Nutrition therapy is commonly part of care after a new diagnosis, when medication changes, or when food is the part of the plan that is not working.

How the health information on this site is sourced and reviewed

The condition guides and articles on this site are general health education, not advice about your own care. They are written from published clinical guidance, principally the American Diabetes Association Standards of Care, Endocrine Society clinical practice guidelines and American Thyroid Association guidelines, together with public health sources such as the CDC and the National Institutes of Health.

Some of this you can check on the site today:

• Every condition guide ends with a list of its sources, each linked to the original authority.
• Every condition guide shows a last-reviewed date.
• The site does not publish patient testimonials or stories about identifiable patients.

Our editorial policy sets out how content is researched, reviewed, dated and corrected. If you think something on a page is wrong or out of date, please tell us through the contact page. Nothing in the condition guides or the blog replaces a consultation.

Working with your primary care clinician

Specialist care covers one part of your health, not all of it. Whoever manages your general health needs to know what the specialist team has found and changed.

A useful specialist summary covers the working diagnosis, any medication started, stopped or changed, the monitoring plan, and the symptoms that should prompt an earlier call. It should also settle who does what: which repeat tests your primary care office orders, which the specialist team orders, and who adjusts which medication. You can ask for a copy of any summary written about you.

How the practice coordinates with your primary care doctor is described on the About page.

Before your first appointment

The more the clinician can see, the more a first visit can cover. Bring your medication and supplement list with doses, recent lab results and any glucose data from a meter or continuous glucose monitor.

The contact page lists what to bring and how to request an in-person or virtual appointment. The conditions section explains how each condition is typically assessed.

Check the credentials of the clinician you will see

It is reasonable to ask, when you book, for the name of the clinician you will see, their profession and their credentials, and to ask again if the appointment is moved to someone else. For a virtual visit, the clinician generally needs a license that is valid in the state where you are at the time of the visit.

You can also check credentials yourself:

• Physician board certification: Certification Matters, from the American Board of Medical Specialties
• Physician licenses and public board actions: DocInfo, from the Federation of State Medical Boards
• Nurse licenses: Nursys, from the National Council of State Boards of Nursing
• The CDCES credential: the Certification Board for Diabetes Care and Education
• RD and RDN registration: the Commission on Dietetic Registration

Other licenses, including those of pharmacists and physician assistants, can be checked with the relevant licensing board in your state.

Individual clinician profiles

Named profiles of individual clinicians have not yet been published on TopInspired.com. A profile is added to this page only when every detail in it can be documented. Each profile will list:

• Full name, profession and credentials
• Residency and fellowship training, where applicable
• Current board certification
• The states where they hold an active license
• Languages spoken and clinical interests
• Which pages on this site they review

In the meantime, you can ask for the name and credentials of your clinician when you request an appointment.