Mark Atkinson is currently the American Diabetes Association (ADA) Eminent Scholar for Diabetes Research, and the Jeffrey Keene Family Professor in the Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine at the University Florida College of Medicine (UF COM). Until November of 2024, he served as Director of the University of Florida Diabetes Institute (UFDI) – a position he held since 2014. He has been investigating the pathogenesis and natural history of type 1 diabetes (T1D) for over 40 years, with over 700 publications related to that and related fields. Over the past 25 years, Expertscape has consistently noted he was among the top 10 most cited authors in the field of T1D at a global level, with some years ranking #1. Since 2018, his H index is 124 and serves as Principal Investigator (PI) or Project PI on seven large ongoing studies (NIH and other funding agencies). Among these, Dr. Atkinson is noted as the founding Director of nPOD that has overseen the scientific progress of over 360 projects in 22 countries directed at numerous aspects of T1D. He has provided leadership service to the T1D community over many years including service as Ad hoc Editor-in-Chief for journals such as Diabetes Care and Diabetes (12 and 15 years, respectively), multiple grant review study sections, service on advisory panels and clinical trial groups (e.g., NIH Immune Tolerance Network (ITN), NIH TrialNet), directed large-scale meeting organization and design (e.g., ADA Annual Scientific Sessions), clinical trial performance (i.e., INNODIA, trial advisory groups), and have served on External Advisory Boards to various academic institutions (e.g., City of Hope, University of Michigan, University of California-San Francisco, University of Colorado). In an effort to see the translation of bench to bedside efforts, he has also served on a series of commercial consultancies including but not limited to Diamyd, Sanofi, Vertex, Novo Nordisk, and Janssen Pharmaceuticals. From a perspective of training and education, he has provided mentorship to dozens of UF undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral associates, and junior faculty. Also noteworthy, he is the founding PI for an NIH-supported T32 Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Type 1 Diabetes and Biomedical Engineering. Finally, in addition to numerous previous national and international awards, I have received the following accolades over the past five years: the 2019 Michael Brownlee Award from the Joslin Diabetes Center; induction to the University of Florida College of Medicine Hall of Fame in 2019; the 2019 Novo Nordisk Jacobaeus Award; the Southeastern University Research Association (SURA) Distinguished Scientist Award in 2022; election as a member of the Florida division of the Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine in 2023; and the 2023 ADA Harold Rifkin Award.