Adriana Plevniak is a strong mother and proud type 1 diabetes (T1D) champion. Since her diagnosis with T1D at age 7, advocacy has been a steady throughline in her life. Beginning with her mother’s immediate and now decades-long engagement with Breakthrough T1D (formerly JDRF [Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation]), Adriana has been inspired to serve as an advocate at all stages of her life — with her own physicians about her care, as a former congressional staff member who worked on the Congressional Diabetes Caucus, serving on the lay advisory committee for the Mary Tyler Moore Vision Initiative, as a long-time Breakthrough T1D volunteer leader, with her clients as a certified health coach, and as a mom.
Adriana’s journey with T1D has been punctuated by her resilience. She navigates the daily ups and downs of managing T1D along with treatments for diabetic retinopathy, a complication of T1D. In 2023, after months of doctor’s visits, she was diagnosed with heart disease and underwent urgent surgery to address blockages in her coronary arteries. The serious risk of heart disease associated with T1D is something she believes needs to be better understood by healthcare providers and people living with T1D.
Adriana’s experiences help fuel her efforts to raise awareness of T1D complications, advance research and advocate for those living with T1D, like her. She strongly believes that the voices of those living with T1D and related complications, such as heart, kidney and eye disease, are essential in charting the path forward in T1D research, therapy development and patient care.
In all she does, Adriana remains focused on living a full, rich life, traveling and experiencing the world and all it has to offer with her husband and son.
