Lecture series ’Updates in Diabetes 2025’ featuring a lecture by Tadej Battelino, member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts
As part of the lecture series ’Updates in Diabetes 2025’, Tadej Battelino, a member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, will give a lecture titled ’ The use of CGM in obesity, intermediate dysglycaemia and type 2 diabetes’ on Tuesday, 15 April, at 6 p.m. at the SASA Grand Hall.
A global trend towards increased obesity, intermediate hyperglycemia (previously termed prediabetes) and type 2 diabetes has prompted a range of international initiatives to proactively raise awareness and provide action-driven recommendations to prevent and manage these linked disease states. One approach, that has shown success in managing people already diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus, is to use continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices to help them manage their chronic condition through understanding and treating their daily glucose fluctuations, in association with glucose-lowering medications, including insulin. However, much of the burden of type 2 diabetes mellitus is founded in the delayed detection of both type 2 diabetes mellitus itself and the intermediate hyperglycemia that precedes it. In this review, we provide evidence that using CGM technology in people at risk of intermediate hyperglycemia or type 2 diabetes mellitus can significantly improve the rate and timing of detection of dysglycaemia. Earlier detection allows intervention, including through continued use of CGM to guide changes to diet and lifestyle, that can delay or prevent harmful progression of early dysglycaemia to type 2 diabetes and later to its devastating chronic complications. Although further research is needed to fully understand the cost-effectiveness of this intervention in people at risk or with early dysglycemia, the clinical benefits of CGM technology use are well demonstrated.
Professor Dr Tadej Battelino graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, in 1990. In 1996, he defended his doctoral dissertation, which focused on glucose metabolism in neonatal endotoxic shock. His further specialization includes pediatric endocrinology, diabetology, and metabolic diseases, which he completed at Loyola University in Chicago, USA. He then completed postdoctoral studies at INSERM, Paris, France.
Currently, Professor Battelino serves as a consultant and head of the Department of Endocrinology at the University Children’s Hospital, University Medical Center Ljubljana. He is also a clinical pharmacologist, head of the Department of Pediatrics, and professor of Pediatrics at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana. He leads numerous publicly funded research projects in the fields of diabetes, endocrinology, and metabolism. He has been honoured with numerous awards which include the Excellence in Research Award of Slovenia (2014), the Gold Medal for Research at the University of Ljubljana (2017), Achievement Award of The International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes (ISPAD) (2020), the Presidential Medal of the Society for Children with Diabetes (2022), and the Research Award of the European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology (ESPE) (2023). On the proposal of Professor Jay Skyler, he was appointed visiting professor at the University of Florida in Miami, and since 2024, he has also held the position of visiting professor at the University of Rome.
Professor Batellino is a member of numerous professional associations, including the American Diabetes Association (ADA), the European Society of Pediatric Endocrinologists (ESPE), and the International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes (ISPAD)—where he also served as President of the 35th Annual Congress. He was a member of the Council of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) and co-organizer of the 20th annual meetings of the International Conference on Advanced Technologies and Treatments for Diabetes (ATTD).
Simultaneously, he is president of the International Diabetes Federation – Europe (IDF-E) for the 2025–2027 term. He has been named an honorary member of several professional societies, including the Italian Society of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetology (SIEDP), the Hellenic Society of Pediatric and Adolescent Endocrinology (EEPEE), and is the recipient of the 2023 Award of the Japanese Society of Pediatric Endocrinology (JSPE).
Professor Batellino is a full member of the Slovenian Academy of Medicine, the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SAZU), and the European Academy of Sciences and Arts.