Cecelia Health supports the 2020 Novo Nordisk Donnelly Award Scholarships

NEW YORK, Feb. 8, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Cecelia Health is proud to support the 2020 Novo Nordisk Donnelly Award Scholarship for the second year in a row.

The 2020 Novo Nordisk Donnelly Awards will award $80,000 in scholarships to male and female athletes aged 14-21 and in good academic standing, who have diabetes and play tennis competitively in tournaments or on their school team. There will be two national awards distributed in the amount of $8,000 each and 16 regional awards of $4,000 each.

Last year's winners received diabetes coaching from Cecelia Health's clinicians who provided personalized education and support to cope with the complexities of balancing their diabetes management with nutrition and exercise at such an intense competitive level. The company's Certified Diabetes Care & Education Specialists (CDCES) built a trusted relationship with the 2019 program athletes to achieve positive outcomes and incorporated Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGM) device training and data interpretation in order to help the athletes better manage their blood sugar levels.

Participating athletes have seen an improvement in their time-in-range (TIR)* and expanded their understanding of diabetes through coaching, support, and education. Cecelia Health's CDCESs also work with the athletes' families to help create an environment in which they can achieve their full sporting potential. The company plans to extend the same level of high-quality coaching to this year's winners and further integrate the use of CGM data, especially TIR, to improve the athlete's health and tennis performance.

"Cecelia Health is honored to support this incredible program for tennis athletes with diabetes, empowering them in their health and pursuit of athletic excellence," stated Cecelia Health CEO, David G. Weingard, "The Cecelia Health team has incredible admiration for the athletes, Diane Donnelly Stone and Tracey Donnelly Maltby who have championed these awards since 1998, and Billie Jean King for her support of the program and contributing her amazing passion for the athletes."

The Novo Nordisk Donnelly Award Scholarships are named after two former World Team Tennis executives, tennis champions and sisters, Diane Donnelly Stone and Tracey Donnelly Maltby. Stone was a 3 time All-American and 1987 NCAA doubles champion at Northwestern University, and Maltby earned All-Big Ten honors at the University of Iowa. Both women have lived successfully with diabetes since childhood. The scholarship program was established by King, through WTT Charities, in 1998 to encourage children with diabetes to lead an active life and compete in tennis.

Novo Nordisk has been the title sponsor of the award since 2002. The company is headquartered in Denmark and specializes in global healthcare with a concentration and leadership in diabetes.

Cecelia Health has supported the scholarship program since 2019 by providing personalized diabetes coaching to scholarship recipients. The company is an award-winning provider of diabetes and chronic disease management solutions through a unique mix of clinical coaching and digital health technology.

Dexcom is supporting the program again this year by providing CGMs to scholarship recipients.

Time in range (TIR) is a measurement provided by CGMs and is defined as a percentage of the time an individual's blood sugar is within the target blood sugar values. This metric, endorsed by the American Diabetes Association, is key to reducing blood sugar fluctuations that are not accounted for by A1c numbers alone.

About Cecelia Health

Cecelia Health's mission is to positively transform the lives of people living with diabetes and related chronic disease states. Cecelia Health's Certified Diabetes Care & Education Specialist (CDCES) and other expert clinicians use Cecelia Health's proprietary technology-enabled personalized coaching solution to optimize health outcomes at a low cost per patient and provide unique data-driven insights to health plans and ACOs seeking to improve quality measures, and pharmaceutical and medical device companies seeking to improve adherence. Cecelia Health has also engaged in numerous joint initiatives with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, American Diabetes Association, the Diabetes Research Institute, the Association of Diabetes Care & Education Specialists, the Jaeb Center for Health Research and the Helmsley Charitable Trust.

About Novo Nordisk
Novo Nordisk is a global healthcare company that's been making innovative medicines to help people with diabetes lead longer, healthier lives for 95 years. This heritage has given us experience and capabilities that also enable us to help people defeat other serious diseases including obesity, hemophilia and growth disorders. We remain steadfast in our conviction that the formula for lasting success is to stay focused, think long-term and do business in a financially, socially and environmentally responsible way. With U.S. headquarters in New Jersey and production and research facilities in six states, Novo Nordisk employs nearly 6,000 people throughout the country. For more information, visit novonordisk.us, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

About DexCom, Inc.
DexCom, Inc., headquartered in San Diego, California, is developing and marketing continuous glucose monitoring systems for ambulatory use by people with diabetes and by healthcare providers for the treatment of people with diabetes.

SOURCE Cecelia Health