A group of health professionals, researchers and technologists gathered to identify and set action plans for the Top 10 Problems initiative led by the Emory Global Diabetes Research Center (EGDRC).The center is part of the StopNCD.org (stop non-communicable diseases) consortium, which includes the Institute for People and Technology at Georgia Tech and the Shankar Center of Excellence for Diabetes Research at IIT Madras. Those who attended the workshop in Macon, Georgia, focused on technology-driven solutions for people who suffer from diabetes in rural Georgia. The workshop is the second event in the StopNCD.org’s global series.
Guided by a steering committee from Augusta University, Mercer University, Albany Area Primary Healthcare and the University of Georgia, the workshop focused on uncovering problems rooted in the realities of rural diabetes care, bridging the gap between the patients’ lived experiences and the efforts of clinicians, investigators and innovators to deliver more effective solutions.
“Too often, we assume we know the problem before asking people living with it every day,” says Ru Ekanayake, MD, PhD, student in global health & development at Emory University and member of the organizing team. “This workshop flipped that script — we listened first. What emerged were grounded, specific challenges that rural providers and patients face daily, and now we have a roadmap to start solving them.”
“I strongly encourage engineers, technologists and others to explore these problems to create meaningful solutions,” says Rudy Gleason, PhD, professor at Georgia Institute of Technology. “When students collaborate with providers and community members and take time to understand lived experiences, they don’t just learn they create solutions that are grounded, relevant and capable of making a real difference.”
Diabetes Challenges in Rural Georgia Include:
- Medication discontinuation: Side effects and limited follow-up lead patients to stop diabetes medications.
- Diagnostic delays: Limited decision support and evolving guidelines can delay diagnosis.
- Limited nutrition counseling: Generic advice often overlooks culture, literacy and personal risk.
- Lack of exercise options: Rural areas lack safe, affordable spaces for physical activity.
- Specialist shortages: Limited access to diabetes specialists delays advanced care.
During the workshop, recurring themes included trust, community connection, and leveraging existing local spaces, such as churches, pharmacies and community centers for care and education. Participants emphasized that technology should reduce administrative burden, freeing clinicians to provide more personalized care.
“In rural communities, trust is everything,” says Shelley Spires, chief executive officer of Albany Area Primary Health Care, former president of the Georgia Rural Health Association and member of the steering committee. “Technology should support, not replace, the relationships existing in the community. The solutions that are implemented and proven to work here, will be used to strengthen that human connection.”
Other priorities included streamlining insurance protocols for prior authorization and improving coordination among clinicians, pharmacists, educators, and community health workers. This ensures accessibility for multilingual, low-literacy, and offline communities, and develops solutions that work within the constraints of rural infrastructure rather than around them.
“Many of the challenges that our attendees identified mirror what we have observed in other domains of health. For instance, the lack of access to culturally tailored information or specialists is a problem in maternal and child health as well as mental health,” says Michael Kramer, PhD, director of the center for Rural Health and Health Disparities in the Mercer School of Medicine.
Building on Emory University’s culture of discovery, the university will host Demo Day on Saturday, Dec. 6, showcasing StopNCD.org’s Top 10 Problems from India and rural Georgia. Emory and Georgia Tech students, in collaboration with EGDRC’s partners, will demonstrate innovative prototypes addressing these challenges. Demo Day highlights the group’s commitment to supporting students as they refine, validate and turn their solutions into real-world products and startups.
Following Demo Day, StopNCD.org will continue to work with Georgia-based clinicians, pharmacists, community health workers and patients to keep these efforts rooted in lived experience. This ongoing collaboration will help refine ideas and ensure that new technologies are not only innovative, but also practical, trusted and effective in rural diabetes care.