According to the American Diabetes Association, 1.5 million Americans are diagnosed with diabetes every year, and a 2017 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report suggests more than 100 million U.S. adults are living with diabetes or prediabetes.

Helping to address the seventh-leading cause of death in the U.S. are Certified Diabetes Educators (CDE), who play a vital role in preventing and managing the prevalence of diabetes and often come from a nursing background.

Judith Aponte, Ph.D., RN, CDE, CCM, APHN-BC, FAAN, associate professor at Hunter College School of Nursing in New York City, N.Y., and editor-in-chief of theNational Association of Hispanic Nurses’ (NAHN) journal, Hispanic Health Care International (HHCI), treats diabetes patients and teaches diabetes management to fellow nurses.

We recently spoke with Judith, who was inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing (AAN) this fall, about nursing’s role in diabetes management and her experience as a researcher and nurse educator.