1910
English physiologist Sir Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer's study of the pancreas leads him to the discovery of a substance that would normally be produced in non-diabetics: insulin. The name comes from the Latin insula, meaning island, referencing the insulin-producing islets of Langerhans in the pancreas.
1916
Elliott Joslin, MD, publishes the first edition of The Treatment of Diabetes Mellitus. A clinician and educator, Joslin is renowned throughout the world as one of the most influential voices in diabetes care.
1921
Frederick Banting, MD, and his then student assistant, Charles Best, MD, extract insulin from dog pancreases. Banting and Best were working in laboratory space at the University of Toronto provided by Professor J.J.R. Macleod. They inject the insulin into dogs whose pancreases have been removed, and the animals’ blood sugar levels go down. James Collip purifies the extract so that it can be used in humans. Banting and Macleod were awarded the 1923 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, though the contributions of all four men have been recognized as important in the discovery of insulin.
1923
Eli Lilly and Company begins commercial production of insulin. In the decades that follow, manufacturers develop a variety of slower-acting insulins, the first being protamine insulin introduced by Novo Nordisk in 1936.
1924
At a time when less than half of all babies born to mothers with diabetes survive, Priscilla White, MD, starts the Joslin Pregnancy Clinic. Fifty years later, Dr. White achieves a 90 percent survival rate among babies born to her patients.
1940
The American Diabetes Association is founded to address the increasing incidence of diabetes and the complications that develop from the disease.
1949
Rachmiel Levine, MD, discovers that insulin works like a key, transporting glucose into cells.
Becton Dickinson and Company begins production of a standardized insulin syringe designed and approved by the American Diabetes Association.
