Yesterday we had the pleasure of acknowledging two very special members of the Australian diabetes community.

Neill Decker OAM and Ian Rodwell AO both received Outstanding Achievement Awards from Diabetes Australia for their contribution to diabetes leadership and research.

Ian Rodwell and his family have been major philanthropic contributors to diabetes research and Ian served as a board member of the Diabetes Australia Research Trust for over 20 years. He has been a wonderful benefactor of the Trust and donated more than $2 million dollars to support the Millennium Awards for Diabetes Research.

Neill Decker’s contribution to the diabetes community comes from a deeply personal place and was inspired by his late first wife, who lived with type 1 diabetes. Neill has made contributions as a community pharmacist for many years and led the way in bringing self management devices into common use. He invented an insulin injector long before the availability of current devices. Neill has served on the Boards of Diabetes Australia, Diabetes Victoria and was the longstanding Chair of the Kellion Diabetes Foundation.

We are thrilled to have presented the Diabetes Australia’s Outstanding Achievement Awards to these two very deserving recipients.