Dr. Peter Gottlieb is an internationally recognized type 1 diabetes (T1D) clinician and scientist, and a parent to three children, two of whom live with T1D. His mother’s adult T1D diagnosis, coupled with the diagnosis in his two children, has inspired his career. On April 21, at the 2023 Dream Gala, Breakthrough T1D is celebrating Dr. Gottlieb’s remarkable impact on T1D research and the leadership role he has played throughout his career in T1D advancements.

Dr. Gottlieb and Breakthrough T1D share a vision of what’s possible for individuals at-risk for developing T1D. Dr. Gottlieb’s leadership in clinical trials through Type 1 Diabetes TrialNet and the Immune Tolerance Network include critical work that led to the development of Tzield, the first disease-modifying therapy for T1D.

Dr. Gottlieb serves as the Orr Family Endowed Chair in Adult Diabetes at the University of Colorado, Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes (BDC). He is Chair of the Collaborative Mechanistic Studies Panel at TrialNet and a member of its Scientific Leadership Group.  Over the course of his career, he has been funded as both a Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator by organizations including Breakthrough T1D, NIH, NIDDK, the Helmsley Charitable Trust and industry-sponsored trials. A mentee of Dr. George Eisenbarth, Dr. Gottlieb is now himself an avid educator and reviewer, who mentors the next generation of scientists including several physicians at the Barbara Davis Center.

In partnership with Dr. Aaron Michels, Dr. Gottlieb founded ImmunoMolecular Therapeutics (IM Therapeutics) based on research at the BDC at the University of Colorado. The research that led to the company was funded in part by Breakthrough T1D. The company has also been funded through an investment from the T1D Fund, Breakthrough T1D’s venture philanthropy fund accelerating life-changing solutions to cure, prevent and treat T1D through catalytic commercial investments.

It’s no stretch to say that thanks to the work of Dr. Gottlieb and his colleagues, T1D research will never be the same. Thanks to Dr. Gottlieb’s leadership and support, for the first time in history, there is an approved therapy that addresses the autoimmunity behind T1D, not just the symptoms that it causes.

So what’s next?

If you ask Dr. Gottlieb, the next great advancements will come through the next generation of scientists and clinicians who will build on and expand disease-modifying therapies, many of which are in human clinical trials now. It’s the next generation of researchers, clinicians and organizations like Breakthrough T1D collaborating on big ideas and tangible ways to get to cures. It’s more diverse perspectives at the table guiding decisions. It’s people who live every day with T1D and the families and communities who love them leaning in to drive action.

Please join the Breakthrough T1D community at the Dream Gala on Friday, April 21, 2023 as we honor the extraordinary contributions of Dr. Peter Gottlieb.

Visit jdrfdreamgala.org to purchase a table, tickets or to make a 100% tax deductible gift to accelerate Breakthrough T1D’s mission progress through Fund A Cure.

*At-risk individuals have 2+ T1D-related autoantibodies—antibodies against one’s own self—and their blood glucose is starting to be abnormal, but they have not yet become insulin dependent. These individuals will develop T1D.