Photo Above:  Dr. Camillo Ricordi

This week Kitty Castellini visited the Diabetes Research Institute at The University of Miami where she was joined by “World Class” Research Scientist Dr. Camillo Ricordi. This is Kitty’s second time to interview Dr. Ricordi within the year. Along with Dr. Ricordi Kitty will also interviewed Research Scientists Dr. Tatian Froud and Dr. Cherie Stabler. Dr. Tatiana Froud is a member of the Diabetes Research Institute’s Clinical Islet Transplant team. Dr. Cherie Stabler is Director of Tissue Engineering at the Diabetes Research Institute. Joining co-host Dr. Joseph J. Fallon Jr., in the Vineland Studio was Dr. Nasser I. Youssef, Transplant Surgeon from Our Lady of Lourdes Health Care System in New Jersey.

Click here for an ABC News interview with Dr. Camillo Ricordi.

Click here to read our blog. Kitty will be posting updates throughout the week!

Press Update:

2/26/08 - The Atlantic City Press - Local woman takes radio show on the road

 

 Episode #11 (2/26/08) - Interview with Dr. Camillo Ricordi, Dr. Cherie Stabler, Dr. Tatiana Froud & Dr. Nasser I. Youssef : Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The following is from the February 26, 2008 edition of “The Atlantic City Press“:

(Published: Tuesday, February 26, 2008)

VINELAND - In her quest to become what she hopes is “a strong voice for people with diabetes,” a local woman has traveled to Florida this week, taking her burgeoning, Vineland-based radio show on the road.

Kitty Castellini, who astounded doctors after she survived a rare pancreas transplant that effectively cured her of her diabetes, took a weekly slot on local station WLVT 92.1 FM in December. She will try her hand tonight at broadcasting across the country when she meets with the inventor of a groundbreaking treatment for certain sufferers in his Miami research center.

“I asked to interview Dr. Camillo Ricordi because he is world-renowned,” Castellini said by phone Monday from Miami.

Ricordi, who is scientific director of the Diabetes Research Center at the University of Miami, invented the Ricordi chamber, a method of isolating insulin-producing islet cells, which can be transplanted into patients.

A simple letter Castellini wrote to his office received a favorable reply, she said.

In the past two months, Castellini’s impact through a variety of media channels has grown, she says. Her call-in radio show, heard every Tuesday, is now being streamed online for listeners and will launch its own Web site, www.diabeteslivingtoday.com, this morning, she said.

Afflicting an estimated 8 percent of people in the United States, diabetes is still comparatively misunderstood and underdiscussed, Castellini believes.

A resident of East Vineland, she was three when she was diagnosed with the illness, and by 2002 she was so sick that her frequent blood-sugar fluctuations were detected by her trained seizure dog, a beagle named Jamie.

Four years ago, she was being considered for islet-cell transplant a technique which allows a sufferer to live without insulin injections - but doctors decided she was a good candidate for a pancreatic transplant instead.

Tonight, she will broadcast live from Miami from 8 p.m., with her physician and cohost, endocrinologist Dr. Joseph J. Fallon.