Hanna Boëthius T1D

15/10/2026

What was my (main!) takeaway?

EASD was heavily focused on , early detection, prevention and lots (and lots) of thoughts and insights on what the role of AI should be/is in diabetes care.

But they weren’t my main takeaway. It was how many conversations considered similar types of questions to “how do we make diabetes care work better for the person living with it?”

Whether it’s the use of technology (or not!), nutritional choices, treatment burden, diabetes distress, shared decision-making, access, equity of care, or implementation. I noticed it within the discussions of various topics.

For me, it boils down to individualising diabetes care around the person, and not (just!) the technology, treatment or guideline.

As we know, the latest technology isn’t automatically the right choice for everyone (there’s no one-size-fits-all in diabetes tech!). And a lower HbA1c doesn’t tell the whole story. Also, an evidence-based intervention only makes a difference if it works in the context of someone’s actual (real!) life.

After 41 years of living with type 1 diabetes, I’ve learned that managing diabetes is about so much more than the numbers. And as a patient advocate, researcher and person-centred care consultant, I strongly believe we need to take a more holistic look at diabetes care. Does this particular intervention improve outcomes that matter to the person? Does it actually reduce the burden of diabetes, or simply redistribute it? And: are we making decisions with people, or for them?

Going from prescribing treatments to understanding people might sound obvious. Yet, putting it into practice requires a fundamental change in how we think about diabetes care.

The goal isn’t just better diabetes management. It’s better decisions, for real people, living real lives.

What would you add?

25/09/2026

We’re pretty good at teaching people how to use diabetes technology.

How to insert it. How to dose. How to change a set. What to do when something goes wrong.

But there’s another part of the learning curve that often gets much less attention:

How do I actually live with this?

Because changing diabetes management, be it MDI pump, starting a CGM, adding an adjunct therapy, changing your insulin strategy, which isn’t just learning how a new tool works mechanically.

It changes your daily life.

What do I need to remember now? How does this fit with exercise, travel, eating out, sleep?
What happens when my routine goes completely out the window?

And, what if it doesn’t work (as expected) for me? 🤔

Not “What am I doing wrong?”, rather “What is it about this treatment that isn’t working for me?”

Those are very different questions.

A treatment can work beautifully physiologically and still not work for a particular person’s life. 👀

And that doesn’t necessarily mean the person has failed. It may simply mean the treatment isn’t the right fit.

I think we need to move beyond asking:

“Does this treatment work?”

and ask:

“How does this treatment work in this person’s life?”

The prescription is the (relatively) easy part. Integrating it into real life is the treatment.

If you’ve changed your diabetes management, what was harder for you, learning the tool itself, or learning how to live with it?

31/08/2026

I’m so excited to attend next month! 🤩

Join me from 28 September to 2 October in bella Milan, Italy 🇮🇹 to find out what’s next in diabetes science and care!

Let me know if you want to catch up for a coffee, chat and updates! ☕ 💙

EASD

26/08/2026

A lush lemon loaf? 🍞 👀 😋

I always enjoy desserts that aren’t too sweet, so a taste of lemon 🍋 works a charm.

We’re in the middle of packing up the house to move (although it may be the shortest move of my life? 🤔 😂) so this is a brilliant way to finish some ingredients in the pantry.

This lemon loaf has 5.2 g carbs per slice and is best enjoyed in the sunshine with a cup of coffee ☀️ 🍋 ☕️

Let me know if you want the recipe!

22/08/2026

This is one of the best professional decisions I have made.

I had the opportunity to share a few of my thoughts about my MSc Diabetes experience at University of Leicester and Leicester Diabetes Centre that I completed in 2023.

Thank you so much to the entire teaching team for your support and encouragement throughout the programme.

Read the full interview in the link below!

Hanna Boëthius shares her experience of studying the part-time, distance-learning Diabetes MSc at Leicester Diabetes Centre and how it has benefited her professional development.

14/07/2026

Some days, this is my office. ☕🌲 ☀️ No, it’s not a teams/zoom/meet background. 😉 😂

I’m incredibly grateful that my work allows me to be location-independent. There’s something about sitting among the trees, with a coffee in one hand, headphones on, and the sound of the ocean nearby that makes everything feel a little lighter.

But there’s another side to this kind of freedom that we don’t talk about enough.

When your office can be anywhere, it can also become everywhere. And i think many of you can relate. The laptop is always there, ideas keep coming, the to-do list never really ends. And sometimes it’s hard to know when you’ve done enough. 🤔

Whenever I catch myself drifting into that mindset, I come back to my why.

More than 40 years after my own diabetes diagnosis, I’m still just as passionate about helping make life with diabetes healthier, easier, and a little less overwhelming. That purpose continues to guide every project, every collaboration, and every conversation.

Maybe that’s also why nature feels so important to me. It reminds me to slow down, breathe, zoom out (ha!), and remember that meaningful work doesn’t have to come at the expense of well-being.

Where do you go when you need to recharge your mind? 🌿💙

26/05/2026

Airports, time zones, airport/plane food, delays, security checks… and diabetes still expects a full-time employee. ✈️ 🫠

PSA, in life with diabetes there are no days off, no “vacation mode”, no autopilot. Just constant decisions in the background while trying to live life in the foreground.

At least the sunflower lanyard helps make the invisible a little more visible 🙏 🌻💙

13/05/2026

Last week’s Insulin Insights Conference 2026 was incredibly impactful. ✨

What a day.

After so many months of planning, discussions, problem-solving, preparation, and heart poured into this conference, it was incredibly rewarding to finally see it come to life (and even more meaningful to feel the atmosphere in the room throughout the day.)

Open. Curious. Thoughtful. Human.

I’m so grateful to everyone who made this possible; the wonderful INSPIRE Lab team working tirelessly behind the scenes; all speakers and contributors for sharing their expertise and perspectives; for supporting these important conversations; team , and everyone who joined us and helped create such a warm, engaged, and reflective space.

There were many important discussions throughout the day, but to highlight a few:

🪑 Patients are often invited to share their experiences, but not always truly included in decision-making. Those are not the same thing.

💉 Insulin is far more complex than many people realise. What happens in real life (heat, travel, opened pens, everyday use, life happening) doesn’t always fit neatly into controlled conditions or protocols.

👩 Women are still too often adapting themselves to technology, instead of technology adapting to real life. Menstrual cycles and hormonal changes continue to be underrepresented in diabetes tools and algorithms.

🌍 And access to diabetes care remains deeply unequal around the world. The daily burden carried by people living with diabetes still isn’t matched by the attention, funding, or urgency it deserves.

The conference reminded me once again that insulin is never “just” a scientific topic. It’s deeply personal, emotional, practical, political.
Certainly it’s about trust, safety, equity, and quality of life.

I’m very grateful to have co-hosted and moderated this day. 🙏 I’m very hopeful about what becomes possible when science, lived experience, industry, healthcare, and advocacy genuinely come together around the same table.

Let’s keep the conversation going 💙

04/05/2026

So grateful for the opportunity to teach at today and spend time with such engaged staff and students. 🤩

We explored lived experience and what diabetes really means in daily life, beyond numbers and theory, into the real, messy, human context.

As always, the topic could easily fill much more time than we had, but it sparked a very thoughtful discussion that I truly valued.

Moments like these are a meaningful way to , sharing experience, learning from each other, and hopefully shifting perspectives just a little.

24/04/2026

📏 Your waist might be saying more about your heart ♥️ than your weight ever did…

A new long-term study (19 year!) in journal Diabetes Care looked at people with type 1 diabetes for 19 years, and found something interesting:

It’s not necessarily about how much you weigh.
👉 It’s rather where you carry it.

The key metric used in the study? Waist-to-height ratio (WHtR).

Here’s what’s up:
• A WHtR ≥ 0.5 = higher risk zone
• People in this range had ~2–3x higher risk of coronary artery disease over time
• Risk increased stepwise (every small increase in ratio mattered)
• Even people without kidney disease (often seen as “lower risk”) were affected!

So, you can have a “normal BMI”, and still carry higher cardiovascular risk.

Why this matters (especially in T1D):
👉🏼 Central fat (around your organs) is metabolically active → drives inflammation → impacts heart health.

And the simplest takeaway?
Keep your waist circumference less than half your height.

No fancy tech. Just a tape measure and awareness. Sometimes the most powerful health signals are the simplest ones. 💪🏼