Maggie Meer is the Founder of Diabetes Professional Care (DPC), the UK’s only national free-to-attend, CPD-accredited event for healthcare professionals (HCPs) involved in the prevention, treatment and management of diabetes. Launched in 2015, DPC has gone from strength to strength, with DPC2017 attracting a record numbers of visitors. Maggie has type 2 diabetes among other serious health issues and DPC was born out of her own experience with diabetes healthcare. Frustrated by the non-joined up way in which her care was managed, she saw a desperate need to provide education and training to HCPs to provide better help to patients with diabetes.
As an event organiser for more than 20 years, Maggie decided to solve the problem herself: she researched the market and met with healthcare industry professionals, and the result was DPC.
From the outset, DPC’s focus has been on real-world, practical education, and it also addresses the budgetary constraints on NHS staff by remaining free to attend.
Prior to DPC, Maggie founded and ran Europe’s first Cloud Computing event, Cloud Expo Europe, which is now the biggest Cloud event in the world.
One to One Questions
1) Which place or city or country do you most feel at home in?
London, where I was born and bred. I now live in the New Forest, which is beautiful and a lot better for my health, but I miss London’s multiculturalism, ethnic diversity and vibrancy.
2) What are your proudest achievements?
My daughter and Diabetes Professional Care (DPC). I get such a buzz when we open the doors to the show, knowing we’ll be making a difference to the lives of people with diabetes.
3) What inspires you?
Anyone who makes a difference and does real good in the world, especially when they achieve this against the odds. I’m so inspired by exceptional yet selfless people, such as Malala Yousafzai, Rigoberta Menchu and Kaylish Saytharthi.
4) What has been the biggest obstacle in your career?
My health. But, conversely, it has also been the biggest instigator. If I didn’t have diabetes I would never have been inspired to help provide education and training for healthcare professionals (HCPs) involved in diabetes care, and so wouldn’t have launched DPC.
5) Who has been the biggest influence on your career to date?
My dad. He always said I could do anything I put my mind to, and was so positive about me “getting out there and giving it some”. Also, Hugh, my partner – for the opposite reason: his initial response to my ideas is usually to tell me “you can’t do it” – knowing full well that means I’ll definitely do it!
6) What is the best aspect about your current role?
When doctors and nurses come up to me and thank me for what me and the DPC team are doing. At DPC2017, a nurse, who had attended every show, wanted to have her photo taken with me because she thought what I was doing was so special! This brings home to me that HCPs appreciate what we’re doing and it really makes a difference to them.
7) And the worst?
Not having enough hours in the day. It’s so frustrating; if only I had more time, I feel I could achieve so much more.
8) What are your long term goals?
To replicate DPC so we can educate HCPs and empower patients around the world. In China, for example, 114 million adults are living with the condition. This is due to changing diet and lifestyle, and there’s a desperate need for better education, for both HCPs and patient empowerment.
9) If you were Prime Minister, what one aspect would you change?
I’d address with food manufacturers how much sugar and salt is added to food. I’d also get back to basics at school. Kids need to do more exercise – I’d put it up there with maths and English, with far more time allocated to it each week. I’d also make home economics and cookery compulsory, so kids understand where their food comes from, and how to make healthy economical meals. Finally, I’d allocate more NHS money to educating and helping HCPs.
10) If you were marooned on a desert island, which historical figure would you like to spend your time with and why?
Mahatma Gandhi. Apart from the fact that he was an amazing man with a powerful will and a kind heart, there are a few stories behind his famous quote, ‘You must be the change you wish to see in the world’, but I’d read one that went as follows:
A woman asked Gandhi to speak to her young son about eating less sugar. Gandhi told her to come back in two weeks and he would talk to her son then. When she returned in two weeks, Gandhi advised the boy to stop eating sugar. After thanking Gandhi, the mother asked why he didn’t do this on their first visit. He replied that he too was eating sugar then and couldn’t teach her son not to eat sugar if he hadn’t done so himself.
I really want to ask Gandhi if this story is true because the sugar connection is so apt for DPC – and that’s always been my favourite quote!
