Wendy is most passionate about her work with people who have type 1 diabetes and the artificial pancreas. Her mission is focused on helping improve the lives of people with type 1 diabetes.
She joined Sansum Diabetes Research Institute in 1990 to work with then Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Lois Jovanovič on studies involving gestational diabetes and exercise, and other type 1 diabetes studies and research. In 1995 Wendy left SDRI to teach human physiology and anatomy part-time, work part-time for the YMCA, and raise her family.
She returned to SDRI in 2004 and started work on the development of the artificial pancreas system in collaboration with engineers at UC Santa Barbara. Wendy sees all of the patients and research subjects as the SDRI family, providing care, support and learning for one another.
Wendy attended high school in Santa Barbara and returned after school at UC Davis and the University of Oregon. She earned her Ph.D. at UC Santa Barbara in Biology – Human Physiology, and then completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the Stanford University School of Medicine.