JDRF - Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation

A South Australian woman has become the first person to receive an islet transplant at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Adelaide.

Margaret Harrigan, a teacher from Adelaide, is producing her own insulin for the first time since being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes 36 years ago after receiving an islet transplant in January.

Margaret had spent years living with hypoglycemia unawareness – severe and uncontrollable blood glucose fluctuations that made day-to-day living almost impossible. Four weeks after the transplant, Margaret has almost halved her insulin requirement and is free of dangerous low blood sugar attacks.

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Professor Chris Goodnow has been elected as a Fellow of the prestigious British academy of science, The Royal Society.

Professor Goodnow is a Principal Investigator in the Australian Islet Transplantation Program, managed by JDRF, and is Head of the Program in Immunology at the John Curtin School of Medical Research at ANU.

Professor Goodnow’s election ranks him amongst current Fellows like Stephen Hawking and Richard Dawkins, as well as those from the Society’s 350 year history, such as Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin.

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