William H. Polonsky PhD, CDCES

Dr. Polonsky is President and Co-Founder of the Behavioral Diabetes Institute, the world's first organization wholly dedicated to studying and addressing the unmet psychological needs of people with diabetes. He is also Associate Clinical Professor in Medicine at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Polonsky received his PhD in clinical psychology from Yale University and has served as Senior Psychologist at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, faculty member at Harvard Medical School and Chairman of the National Certification Board for Diabetes Educators. A licensed clinical psychologist, certified diabetes care and educational specialist, and highly-cited research scientist (with more than 100 peer-reviewed publications in the field of behavioral diabetes), he received the American Diabetes Association’s 2020 Outstanding Educator in Diabetes Award and the American Diabetes Association’s 2014 Richard R. Rubin Award for distinguished contributions to behavioral medicine and psychology.