about us

Close Concerns provides consulting services on diabetes to a wide range of established and start-up corporate clients, including pharmaceutical, medical device, and biotechnology companies. Close Concerns also publishes Diabetes Close Up, a monthly newsletter focused on clinical and commercial developments in the field, and produces special reports on products and trends influencing diabetes. We attend 30+ medical conferences and meetings per year globally that focus on diabetes and obesity. Close Concerns also has strong relationships with many of the leading researchers and clinicians in diabetes. The company's expertise reflects the professional experience of its employees as well as a personal understanding of the disease. Several principals and associates, including founder Kelly Close, have type 1 diabetes.

press

Read more press coverage about Close Concerns

management

KELLY L. CLOSE, PRESIDENT

Kelly L. Close is president of Close Concerns, Inc., a healthcare information firm exclusively focused on diabetes and obesity. Close Concerns publishes Closer Look, a real-time news service covering all goings-on in diabetes and obesity, as well as Diabetes Close Up, a monthly industry newsletter. Kelly is also editor-in-chief of diaTribe, a monthly online newsletter focused on new research and products for people with diabetes (diaTribe.us) and is very active in dQ&A, Close Concerns' market research business. Kelly and her colleagues attend over 40 conferences globally focused on diabetes and obesity, cover key medical literature in the field, and write quarterly about 60-plus private and public companies in the area. Kelly's passion for the field comes from her extensive professional work as well as her personal experience as a patient with type 1 diabetes for nearly 25 years. Her analytic expertise come from nearly ten years researching medical technology and pharma as an equity research analyst. Prior to this, Kelly worked at McKinsey & Company with a majority of her work focused in the healthcare practice. She began her career working as an analyst at Goldman, Sachs & Co. Kelly is widely viewed as an expert on the businesses of diabetes and obesity and as a frequent speaker on the public health implications of diabetes and obesity, she is a tireless supporter of patients. A longtime diabetes advocate, Kelly is on advisory boards for the JDRF, dLife, the Children with Diabetes Foundation, and the Diabetes Hands Foundation. Kelly is a graduate of Amherst College and Harvard Business School. She lives in San Francisco with her children Coco, Lola, and Valentino and husband John, with whom she runs Close Concerns.

JOHN CLOSE, CEO

John Close joined Close Concerns in 2006. Originally trained as a scientist, he spent six years in research. After receiving an MBA from INSEAD, the European Institute of Business Administration, he worked for five years as a management consultant at Bain & Company in San Francisco and Toronto, managing client engagements. Following Bain, he entered more entrepreneurial ventures, and has several successful high-tech start-ups now under his belt. He now runs Close Concerns with Kelly, where his understanding of science and diabetes, along with his broad business and consumer marketing expertise, are assets to the business.

Richard Wood

Richard Wood joined Close Concerns in 2008 from The Nielsen Company, where as VP of Consumer Insights at Nielsen Mobile, he managed the world's largest syndicated market research program for the mobile telecommunications industry. He has extensive experience from a 20-year career in consumer research, industry research, technology and publishing, and an MBA from INSEAD, the European Institute of Business Administration. Richard heads Close Concerns' consumer market research business, dQ&A.

associates

Sanjay Trehan

Sanjay Trehan joined Close Concerns in 2009 after graduating from Brown University with a BS in Computational Biology. He has conducted computational biology research at Children's Hospital's (Boston) Informatics Program and Brown's Center for Computational Molecular Biology. More recently, he interned with Brown's Molecular and Cell Biology department, studying the genetic mechanisms that lead to aging in the fruit fly. At Close Concerns, he is managing editor of Diabetes Close Up and lead's the company's research and writings on obesity.

Benjamin Kozak

Ben Kozak became a member of Close Concerns in 2010 after graduating from Pomona College magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in Biology. During his undergraduate years, Ben devoted much of his time outside the classroom to research. As the Beckman Scholar at Pomona, he investigated the role of a novel protein in the vesicle transport cycle. Furthermore, as an intern at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, Ben sought to identify genes that confer greater sensitivity to Taxol with the hope that cancer patients expressing these genes could be given less of the drug, thereby minimizing the side effects of the chemotherapy. When not in the lab, Ben was heavily involved in community service work. He served as president for Pomona's Chapter of Mortar Board, a national honors society dedicated to service and leadership, volunteered at several hospitals, and acted as a mentor for Uncommon Good.

Joseph Shivers

Joseph Shivers joined Close Concerns in 2010 after graduating from Harvard University with an AB in Chemical and Physical Biology. As a PRISE Fellow during the summer before his senior year, Joseph studied magnetic and optical trapping in Dr. Mara Prentiss's biophysics lab at Harvard. In the previous summer, he researched the neurodegenerative effects of murine leukemia virus at the Northeast Ohio Universities College of Medicine with Dr. William Lynch and Dr. Shobhana Sivaramakrishnan. He tutored at the Harvard College Writing Center, wrote and cartooned for The Harvard Crimson, and, along with three other undergraduates in Dr. David Edwards' engineering sciences class, developed an idea for a third-world water transportation device.

Vincent Wu

Vincent Wu joined Close Concerns in 2010 after graduating with Distinction from Stanford University with a BS in Biological Sciences in 2009. During the summers of his undergraduate career, Vincent engaged in research at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle and at the Heller Sleep Laboratory at Stanford. Outside of the academic setting, he shadowed in the emergency room at Sequoia Hospital and volunteered at an after-school program where he taught lessons on health, physiology, and nutrition. Upon graduation, he worked as a Business Development Associate at a growing tech start-up for a year, helping to bring new clients onboard, to strengthen pre-existing partnerships, and to streamline operations.

summer associates, 2010

Adam Brown

Adam Brown, a Close Concerns summer associate for 2010, is a rising senior at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Adam is pursuing a concentration in marketing and a minor in nutrition. He was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 12 and has worn an insulin pump for the last eight years. He brings his perspective as both a patient and a business student to his work at Close Concerns. Adam is also a certified personal trainer and spends his free time outdoors and staying active.

Karthik Prasad

Karthik Prasad is a Close Concerns summer associate in 2010 and is a rising junior at Stanford University, where plans to double major in Cell and Molecular Biology and Economics. At Stanford, he conducts clinical research related the controversial Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in the School of Medicine. He spent summer 2009 researching possible antibody-based treatments for hypercholesterolemia at Merck and Co, in Lansdale, PA. As a student, he volunteers at the Arbor Free Clinic and is heavily involved with Stanford Student Society for Stem Cell Research, of which he will be Co-President next year. Additionally, he plans to start researching in Stanford's Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine next fall, as he pursues an honors thesis.

Read our new white paper - "Treating the Diabetes Infrastructure"

welcome!

New to Close Concerns?

Subscribe

Already registered?

Log in

WHAT WE DO

consulting
strategic advice and comprehensive information for those interested in the diabetes industry

diabetes close up
our monthly newsletter

industry reports
periodically we take the long view on trends or on specific breakthroughs.

TEAM

about us

contributors

Alisa Bekins

Alisa Bekins joined Close Concerns in 2005 as director of operations and marketing after working in the travel, entertainment, and PR industries for 15 years. She graduated from the University of North Dakota with a BA in Aviation. She has studied diabetes and diabetes-related complications for years, stemming from experiences with multiple family members and friends with diabetes. She has a keen interest in and knowledge of type 1 diabetes, medical devices to treat diabetes, and diabetes education. Alisa is a frequent contributer to diaTribe and Diabetes Close Up and runs all marketing and operations for Close Concerns.

Dan Belkin

Dan Belkin joined the Close Concerns team in 2006 after graduating from Amherst College magna cum laude with a degree in philosophy and worked full time with Close Concerns before starting medical school. His undergraduate thesis work involved "genealogy," a method more often used in the sciences but which has interesting philosophical applications. Dan has extensive research experience, having previously received a Howard Hughes Medical Institute fellowship to research various CNS-related hypotheses. Dan's various interests reflect a humanistic approach to life and medicine, and he approaches his work at Close Concerns in the same way. He is a frequent contributor to Diabetes Close Up and diaTribe, attends various conferences globally for Close Concerns, and creates all of the cartoons for diaTribe, Close Concerns' monthly newsletter for people with diabetes (www.diaTribe.us). Dan is currently in his third year in medical school at Cornell.

Eric Chang

Eric Chang became a member of Close Concerns in 2009 after graduating from Pomona College summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in neuroscience. At Pomona, he received the Rena Gurley Archibald Prize, presented to the highest ranked student in the class of over 450 students. He spent the early years of his university life in the laboratory and clinic, investigating the therapeutic potential of homing endonucleases with Dr. Lenny Seligman at Pomona and volunteering at the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford. Following a semester abroad in Beijing and Inner Mongolia, he developed a passion for holistic approaches to healthcare. This interest translated into his senior thesis research in which he examined the neuroprotective effects of Panax ginseng and its constituent active compounds.

Michael Dougan

Michael Dougan is currently a third year student at Harvard Medical School and is a recent graduate of Harvard's PhD program in Immunology. Michael has had a longstanding interest in chronic diseases, particularly as they related to the body's interaction with the environment. He conducted his dissertation research in Dr. Glenn Dranoff's lab at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute where he studied novel approaches to enhancing anti-tumor immunity. In addition to his research, Michael has been a teaching fellow for several graduate and undergraduate courses; his teaching was recognized in 2008 by Harvard's Levenson award. Michael received his AB from Amherst College in 2002, where he majored in Chemistry and English, graduating summa cum laude (both majors) and Phi Beta Kappa. Michael has worked with Close Concerns part-time since 2006, primarily on Closer Look and Diabetes Close Up publications.

KATELYN GAMSON

Katelyn Gamson has been a contributor to Close Concerns since 2005-2006, when she worked for the company as an associate. Katelyn graduated from Amherst College in 2005 with a degree in chemistry; she is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Katelyn's experience with diabetes is prodigious; in 2003, working under the famed Dr. Lois Jovanovic, she conducted clinical research at Sansum Diabetes Research Institute to develop an algorithm that would suggest insulin dosages for patients with type 1 diabetes. While at Sansum, Katelyn co-authored an article on the safety and efficacy of insulin analogs in pregnancy; this article was published in the Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine, with Katelyn as the primary author. While at Amherst, Katelyn was awarded the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship for her research on diabetes. Katelyn is devoted to community service, and in addition to her work with Close Concerns, she also worked as an AmeriCorps member of the National AIDS Fund, in Washington, D.C. during 2006. Katelyn is now in her final year of medical school at UCSF.

Rachael Hartman

Rachael Hartman has contributed to Close Concerns since 2005. In 2006, she completed her MBA at Harvard Business School, and earned her MD in 2007 at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons. Before graduate school, Rachael spent two years working as a Business Analyst at McKinsey & Company, where she focused exclusively on healthcare clients. During medical school, Rachael worked as a Summer Associate in biotechnology equity research at Goldman Sachs. She also interned at Genentech in Commercial Operations during business school. Rachael graduated from the University of Pennsylvania summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in the Biological Basis of Behavior (Neuroscience) and a minor in economics. She is now a Dermatology resident at NYU and continues to contribute to Closer Look and Diabetes Close Up.

JAMES S. HIRSCH

James S. Hirsch, a former reporter for The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, is a best-selling author whose most recent book is “WILLIE MAYS: The Life, the Legend,” the first biography of Mays written with his cooperation. Hirsch has also written "CHEATING DESTINY: Living With Diabetes,” “HURRICANE: The Miraculous Journey of Rubin Carter," "RIOT AND REMEMBRANCE: America’s Worst Race Riot and Its Legacy," and "TWO SOULS INDIVISIBLE: The Friendship That Saved Two POWs in Vietnam." Hirsch is currently ghostwriting a book for Massanchusetts Governor Deval Patrick. Hirsch has an undergraduate degree from the University of Missouri School of Journalism and a graduate degree from the LBJ School of Public Policy at the University of Texas. He lives in the Boston area with his wife, Sheryl, and their children, Amanda and Garrett. Jim has worked as an editor and contributor to Close Concerns since 2004 and as senior editor and columnist of diaTribe since 2006.

Jenny Jin

Jenny Jin joined Close Concerns in 2006 after graduating Harvard College summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in Chemistry. During college she devoted much time to basic science research beginning in summer 2004 when she studied the organ-specificity of eukaryotic heat shock protein TCP-1 at the Nanotechnology & Astrobiology Research Group at NASA Ames Research Center. Subsequently she joined Harvard Professor Greg Verdine's lab and worked on the crystallization of prokaryotic sporulation protein SpoIIIE. She received the Herchel Smith Undergraduate Research Fellowship to fund her research in summer 2005. In addition to her experimental work, Jenny has instructed in science as a Teaching Fellow for organic chemistry at Harvard. In college she also served as captain and president of the Harvard-Radcliffe Kendo Club and organized the 8th Annual Shoryuhai Kendo Tournament in April 2004, the largest intercollegiate kendo tournament in North America. She is currently in her third year of medical school at UCSF.

Nupur Lala

Nupur Lala began work for Close Concerns as a summer intern in 2004; she returned to the company in the summers of 2005 and 2006. She graduated from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 2007 with a BS in Brain, Behavior and Cognitive Sciences. During her undergraduate years she conducted research in the University of Michigan Psycholinguistics Laboratory and in the laboratory of Dr. Frank Brosius at the University of Michigan Medical School, studying the effect of troglitazones in kidney function. After graduation Nupur worked in the Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory at MIT, where she researched the neural correlates of subsequent memory for scenes, motor skills learning and improving fluid intelligence. She hopes to meld her interests in cognitive psychology and writing with a career in medicine.

Bradford Lee

Bradford Lee has covered basic and clinical research for Close Concerns since 2004. He graduated from Stanford Medical School in 2009 and from Harvard College magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in biochemistry in 2004. He was awarded a master's of science in health policy, planning, and financing as well as the Brian Abel-Smith Prize from the London School of Economics in 2005. Brad is interested in the role of diabetes and obesity in minority populations, diabetic eye diseases, and global health. He has conducted research at the National Eye Institute, Harvard University, San Francisco General Hospital, and the Aravind Eye Care System in India. He is currently an ophthalmology resident at the renowned Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami, Florida.

Jen Lesser

Jen Lesser joined Close Concerns in early 2009. Jen graduated from Amherst College in 2007 with a BA in biology. During her junior year, she spent a semester studying biochemistry at the University of Oxford. After graduation she spent two years working in equity research at Lehman Brothers and then Barclays Capital. There, she was the sole research associate on the #1 ranked Institutional Investor Publishing and Advertising Services team. Currently, she is in the midst of MPhil in Bioscience Enterprise at the University of Cambridge in England, a joint program between the School of Biotechnology and the School of Business to bridge the gap between healthcare and business. On a personal side, Jen is very active with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and is a member of the Young Leadership Committee (junior board).

Dana Lewis

Dana Lewis is a 2010 summa cumme laude graduate of The University of Alabama. A member of Phi Beta Kappa, she conducted undergraduate research for six semesters and was published in a variety of health publications. She was the sole member of her degree program earning the designation of honors, with thesis, after extensive analysis and practical application of social media in the health care industry. Dana is an enthusiastic diabetes advocate locally, nationally, and internationally and previously testified before the U.S. Senate HELP Committee. She interned and has consulted for Novo Nordisk, the American Diabetes Association, dLife, and numerous other diabetes organizations. She frequently contributes to diaTribe, particularly on devices and industry trends, and has worked with Close Concerns since 2008.

Brendan Milliner

Brendan Milliner joined Close Concerns in 2008 after graduating from Amherst College with a degree in neuroscience. He brings to the team both a strong background in science and a dedication to public health and medicine. During his first few years of college he spent time in scientific research, working on projects with Dr. Aynsley Smith at the Mayo Clinic and Dr. Michael Rogawski in the epilepsy division of the National Institutes of Health. The spring and summer of his junior year were spent in Africa, where he was involved in community health projects with the Students' Health and Welfare Centres Organisation of Cape Town and the Cameroonian branch of United Action for Children. His senior thesis investigated the effects of drugs that enhance neural activity on changes in the sensory systems of the brain.

Martha Nelson

Martha Nelson served as a medical writer and researcher at Close Concerns from 2003 to 2005 and continues to cover basic and clinical research for the company. After graduating with a biology degree, magna cum laude, from Amherst College in January, 2004, she served as a full-time writer for Diabetes Close Up and worked on special reports and projects related to new scientific studies, drugs, and technology. Martha was a Howard Hughes summer research fellow at the Indian Health Service in Albuquerque, N.M., where she investigated how infectious disease contributed to diabetes among Native Americans. She continued to study infectious disease dynamics during her doctoral study, completing her PhD at the Pennsylvania State University in 2008 with a thesis titled 'The genomic evolution of influenza A virus.' Martha will continue to study the evolution of infectious disease as a post-doctoral researcher at the Fogarty International Center at the National Institutes of Health in Washington, DC. Martha retains an acute interest in diabetes, particularly the role of infectious disease in its etiology, and continues to cover diabetes conferences on occasion for Close Concerns.

Winnie Rosbach

Winnie Rosbach brings to Close Concerns great knowledge and interest in children with type 1 diabetes. As the mother of a child with diabetes, she has direct experience with the issues that parents and families face with young diabetic children. Winnie is a graduate of Franklin & Marshall College where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and English. She has contributed extensively to the company, particularly related to diaTribe.

Lisa Rotenstein

Lisa Rotenstein was a Close Concerns summer associate in 2009 and is a junior at Harvard College concentrating in chemical and physical biology and economics. She conducts both basic and clinical research related to neural injury and neurochemistry at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Children�s Hospital of Boston. She spent the summer of 2008 exploring the neurophysiology of stroke and the use of NIRS in neonates at Stanford Medical School and is co-Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Undergraduate Research Journal. Beyond the lab and hospital, she is passionate about public health and public policy. Lisa founded the Harvard Healthcare Policy Group, is very involved with Project HEALTH Boston, and writes for the Harvard Political Review. She also works part-time with the Harvard College Consulting and Veritas Financial Groups. She continues to contribute extensively to Close Concerns, particularly related to diaTribe and Closer Look.

Tony Sheng

Tony Sheng, a Close Concerns summer associate for 2009, is currently a student at Amherst College pursuing a double major in neuroscience and English. Over the past four years, Tony conducted several health-related research projects on topics ranging from stroke triage protocol to oral insulin delivery. In 2008 as a Cincinnati Children's Hospital summer undergraduate research fellow, he enrolled the first cohort of patients into the Epilepsy Phenome Genome Project with Dr. Tracy Glauser. In addition to frequent volunteering, Tony works as a Bonner Community Engagement Leader at the Center for Community Engagement. He also plays singles and doubles on the varsity tennis team.

Mark Sorrentino

Mark Sorrentino, a Close Concerns summer associate for 2009, is a rising junior molecular biology/biochemistry major and economics minor at Middlebury College. Mark is particularly interested in the therapeutic potential of insulin-independent glucose transport pathways. For his ongoing work at Middlebury, he is examining miRNA regulation of a protein regulating the stress response in Streptococcus Mutans.

Kerri Morrone Sparling

When it comes right down to it, there's little more important to Kerri than her family, her friends, and the Red Sox. Well-known in the diabetes community for her personal diabetes blog www.SixUntilMe.com and her position as Editor and Community Leader at dLife, Kerri has been living with type 1 diabetes since the second grade. She hides out in Connecticut with her husband and their parade of annoying cats.

Jessica Swienckowski

Jessica Swienckowski joined Close Concerns in 2009 after graduating in 2008 from Vassar College Phi Beta Kappa with general honors and departmental honors in Neuroscience and a correlate in Molecular Biology. During her undergraduate career, Jessica devoted her summers to a wide breadth of research, including experiences at Dr. Michael F. Green's lab at the Neuropsychiatric Institute at UCLA, Dr. Marco Iacoboni's lab at the Brain Mapping Center at UCLA, and Dr. Cynthia Kenyon's laboratory at the Hillblom Center for the Biology of Aging at UCSF. Her senior project at Vassar concerned the developmental expression patterns of the microtubule-associated protein gene ptl-1 and its role in neuronal function in Caenorhabditus elegans. Her findings contributed to a research publication in Development, Genes, and Evolution. Following her graduation from Vassar, Jessica spent a year assisting in the oversight of the Writing Center at Swarthmore College.

Cullen Taniguchi

Cullen Taniguchi finished his an MD/PhD at Harvard Medical School in 2008. He completed his Ph.D. in Cell and Developmental Biology in 2005 working with the former President of the Joslin Diabetes Center, Dr. C. Ronald Kahn. Cullen's research examines the molecular mechanisms of type 2 diabetes, particularly insulin resistance in the liver, and how it may be a significant factor in how people develop the disease. Cullen attended Occidental College where he obtained an A.B. in chemistry and a minor in music. Cullen then spent two years in Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar studying for a master of philosophy in Economic and Social History. Cullen completed his MD in 2007, and is now in the midst of a residency in internal medicine/endocrinology at UCSF. He has worked part-time for Close Concerns over the past few years with a focus on helping the firm on basic science.

Melissa Tjota

Melissa Tjota joined Close Concerns in 2008 as a full-time associate after graduating from Harvard College summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in Biochemical Sciences and a secondary field in Spanish. During college she spent much of her time conducting research at Harvard's Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology in Cambridge, MA; the Institute of Molecular Medicine and Experimental Immunology in Bonn, Germany; and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA. Her undergraduate thesis work was carried out in the laboratory of Dr. Shannon Turley in which her project examined peripheral tissue antigen and cytokine expression in murine lymph node stromal cells and human mesenchymal stem cells. Melissa is now pursuing an MD/PhD at the University of Chicago.

Ellen H. Ullman

Ellen H. Ullman has been a passionate and tireless proponent for diabetes advocacy since 1989 when her now 22 year old son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. She is a well-respected Internet liaison who compiles and disseminates the latest news about diabetes research, products and medical devices. Through her participation in conferences, social media, support groups, chat rooms and forums, Ellen offers an empathetic, encouraging, and empowering presence to families impacted by diabetes. She also serves as Vice-President of the Children with Diabetes Foundation, volunteers for the Diabetes Research Institute Foundation, and works as a research associate for Close Concerns. With a diverse background encompassing a Master's Degree in social work, internships spent working with those in need, paralegal experience in patent law and an unbridled curiosity about product function and design, Ellen is well positioned to make a difference by speaking for those whose voices need to be heard by government officials.

Nick Wilkie

Nick Wilkie has worked with Close Concerns since 2009. He graduated from St. Olaf College with a BA in chemistry and psychology and then earned his master's degree in neuroscience from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. For his master's research, he investigated the molecular biology of the neuroendocrine system and the effects of synthetic steroids on brain tumors. Following graduate study, he worked in a clinical DNA microarray laboratory analyzing small genetic aberrations in congenital developmental disorders. His primary interest in diabetes is the role of the nervous system and diabetes-related pathologies. He has a strong focus at Close Concerns on diabetes market research.

Mark Yarchoan

Mark Yarchoan is a frequent contributor of Close Look and an editor of Diabetes Close Up. He and previously worked as a full-time Close Concerns associate. Mark has covered over 30 diabetes and obesity conferences with Close Concerns and he has a deep interest in diabetes research and drug development. He spoke on a panel at the 2008 Avalere Health Forum on Diabetes and was a co-author with other members of the Close Concerns team of a poster presented at the 2008 ADA conference (864-P). Mark received a BA from Amherst College and is currently a medical student at the University of Pennsylvania where he was awarded the 2010 Endocrine Society Medical Student Achievement Award.