Janelle Tobias Sanderson

Janelle Tobias Sanderson, Ph.D., joined The diaTribe Foundation as a freelance writer in 2025. Living with type 1 diabetes for over 15 years, she is passionate about making a positive impact in the diabetes field and improving disease management for people living with the condition. As an academic scientist, she has focused her research on understanding the basic biology underlying pancreatic beta cells (the cell type attacked in type 1 diabetes). During her Ph.D. training at Oregon Health & Science University, she developed a new chemical tool to study lipid signalling in beta cells, leading to a first-author publication and the first independent publication of the Frank lab. For her postdoctoral work at the University of California, San Francisco, she makes stem cell-derived beta cells to model type 1 diabetes in a dish. Outside of work, she enjoys running through Golden Gate Park and baking yummy desserts.