Leah Foster Smith received her BSN and MSN-FNP from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 1996 and 2001, respectively. She joined Metrolina Nephrology Associates, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2001 as an ANCC Board-Certified Family Nurse Practitioner. Leah was promoted to director of advanced practice providers in 2007 and now supervises the largest group of nephrology APPs in the United States with a current total of 42 Nephrology APPs. She became a Certified Nephrology Nurse Practitioner (CNN-NP) as highest exam scorer in the United States in 2017, as well as a Fellow of the NKF. Leah is an APP practice clinical consultant with Clear Edge Medical Management assisting multiple nephrology practices in the utilization of nephrology APs. She is also the creator and chair of a formalized CKD program managing over 24,000 CKD patients. Leah is the chief education officer for Interactive Nephrology and creator of a formalized new nephrology APP training program entitled, Ready for Rounds, training more than 111 APPs from across the United States since its launch in June 2020.

Ms. Novak is a board-certified nurse practitioner in both Adult Health and Advanced Diabetes Management. Her passion for assisting people with diabetes began in 2000 with the establishment of the Diabetes Institute of the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center located in Bethesda, Maryland. She served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor for The Daniel K. Inouye Graduate School of Nursing of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences from 2008–2018. Ms. Novak has been an active member of the American Association of Diabetes Care and Education Specialists (formerly known as the American Association of Diabetes Educators) since 2005 and is currently co-chairing the Advanced Practice Community of Interest. She has also provided her expertise pertaining to diabetes as a Contributing Author for the Lippincott Manual of Nursing Practice for the last 4 editions. She is also a Contributing Author for the 1st edition of Genomic Essentials for Graduate Level Nurses.

Davida Kruger has been a certified nurse practitioner in diabetes for more than 35 years at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, Michigan. Her role includes both clinical practice and research. She is board certified by the American Nurses Association Credentialing Center in Primary Care and by the American Association of Diabetes Educators in Advanced Diabetes Management. She is past Chair of the American Diabetes Association’s Research Foundation and has served on the American Diabetes Association’s Research Policy Committee. She is also past president of Health Care and Education for the ADA. She served as editor of Diabetes Spectrum from 2005–2008. She served as the Editor in Chief of Clinical Diabetes from 2011–2016.

Amy Butts is a physician assistant/associate who is a distinguished fellow of the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA), a certified diabetes care and education specialist, and is board certified in advanced diabetes management. Amy has specialized in endocrinology for 23 years. She currently works as an endocrine PA for WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital in an outpatient endocrine clinic in Wellsburg, West Virginia. She has served on several volunteer groups for ADA and ADCES. She is on the Editorial board for the ADA’s publication Clinical Diabetes. Amy is the current President for ASEPA (American Society of Endocrine Physician Assistants). Amy has spoken at several AAPA conferences and ADA conferences and does education for various CME organizations. She is the owner of Amy Butts Metabolic Consulting, LLC. She has been awarded America’s Top Physician Assistant by Point of Care Network (POCN) for two years in a row, 2020 and 2021.