Linda B.

Linda never expected diabetes to define the course of her life.

She was a young mother of three when her six-year-old son was suddenly hospitalized and diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Until that moment, she had never heard the words blood sugar, insulin, or A1C. During the week he was in the hospital, the only education she received was a few handouts about juice boxes and how to read a glucose meter.

It was before the internet. When they went home, Linda felt completely alone.

She left the hospital with a child who had a lifelong disease and almost no understanding of what that meant for their future. No one explained how daily life would change. No one helped her understand the healthcare system her family would now depend on.

So Linda decided to change that.

She went back to school to become a nurse.

Years later she graduated with her master’s degree in nursing and became a Clinical Nurse Specialist and diabetes educator. One month later, her eighteen-year-old daughter was also diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.

Linda suddenly found herself living both sides of the story—as a clinician and as a mother raising two children with the same lifelong condition.

For more than twenty years she has dedicated her career to improving diabetes education for patients and families. Her work has helped transform patient education programs at leading institutions including Cedars-Sinai, Cottage Hospital—an institution with a historic legacy in early diabetes care—and Seton Hospital in Texas, where she received the STARS Award for her statewide impact improving patient and family education.

Linda is widely recognized as a powerhouse in diabetes education. But what drives her work is something much more personal.

When she discovered the mission of NAVOCATE Health, it immediately struck her: this was the support she had needed during that first terrifying week in the hospital when her son was diagnosed.

Someone to talk to.
Someone to explain what was happening.
Someone who understood what it meant for the rest of life.

Today Linda brings both her clinical expertise and lived experience to the families she supports. Because diabetes is not just about blood sugar numbers—it is about the long road ahead, and having someone beside you who truly gets it.