Mary de Groot, PhD, can’t remember a time in her life when she wasn’t familiar with the term “diabetes.”
It’s personal for her family. De Groot’s mother had a sister named Julianne who became ill in 1945, at the age of 10. It was a common viral infection and didn’t require more than an in-home visit from the family physician.
But there was something more.
Julianne’s symptoms worsened, and she was hospitalized and fell into a coma. By that point, it was too late to save her. Unbeknownst to all, Julianne had type 1 diabetes and had been demonstrating early symptoms of beta cell failure in response to the virus.
“That was a really transformative moment for the whole family,” de Groot said.
De Groot grew up listening to stories about Julianne from her mother, Patricia, and her grandparents. Eventually her brother, Michael, developed type 2 diabetes, which also puts de Groot at an increased risk of someday developing the disease.
These memories and experiences have shaped de Groot’s career as a clinical health psychologist.
As an undergraduate at Northwestern University, she studied political science before gravitating toward communication and rhetorical history. She grew particularly interested in how public discourse influences policy and public opinion, and decided to take on more psychology coursework.
“Years later, I realized that this area had parallels to the internal interplay of thoughts, feelings and behaviors within individuals,” said de Groot.
She was eventually accepted into the clinical and consulting psychology master’s program at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. After graduating in 1989, de Groot took on a research assistant job at the Joslin Diabetes Center, the world's largest diabetes care and research center. It was a natural fit, given her family’s history.
At the center, De Groot worked with Alan Jacobson, M.D, who led the mental health unit, to characterize the course of depression in adults with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
Much of her work involved interviewing patients and learning their stories. The patients’ persistence and perseverance in the face of living with a chronic disease was inspiring, she said, as was working alongside researchers who were deeply committed to improving patients' quality of life.
“I found my people,” de Groot said. “A lot of the early seeds of my work were planted there.”
De Groot went on to earn a doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the University of Rhode Island, and completed a clinical internship with the VA Connecticut Healthcare System before taking on postdoctoral training in diabetes research at Washington University in St. Louis.
She needed both clinical and research experience to pursue her ultimate career goals.
“My goal had always been to combine clinical work with research,” de Groot said. “When we take our research findings and bring them to our patients, we improve care. I find that very rewarding, to work both sides.”
After her postdoctoral training she joined the faculty at Ohio University, where she conducted her first depression intervention trial – Program ACTIVE, or “Adults Coming Together to Increase Vital Exercise.”
It was here that she was approached by David G. Marrero, PhD, director of the Diabetes Translational Research Center at the IU School of Medicine, who offered her an opportunity to expand on her research at IU.
At IU School of Medicine, de Groot has developed two primary psychological interventions for people with diabetes.
Program ACTIVE, first trialed at Ohio University, focuses on treating depression in adults with diabetes. At IU, de Groot served as the primary principal investigator for a second, multi-state trial.
Both trials demonstrated that participants with a major depressive disorder who participated in cognitive behavioral therapy or exercise showed significant improvement in A1C, the metric of glycemic management over time. Recently, de Groot analyzed the long-term effects of therapy and exercise interventions and found that those who showed improvement in their A1C at the trial’s conclusion continued showing improvements six and 12 months after the trial.
“That’s really heartening, that even a 12-week intervention can have a sustained effect on people,” de Groot said.
The second intervention, The Diabetes Tune Up Group, is designed to address the social and emotional strain of living and managing diabetes, termed "diabetes distress," that affects up to 45% of people with diabetes.
De Groot has demonstrated the intervention's success in alleviating diabetes distress in adults with type 1 and type 2 diabetes in two separate studies. Her most recent study showed improvements in diabetes distress and other psychological outcomes in Black and African American women with type 2 diabetes after attending virtual and in person groups.
In total, de Groot has contributed to over 250 articles and presentations on the psychosocial aspects of diabetes and served over 600 patients. She’s held numerous leadership roles during her career, serving as the Associate Vice Chair for Wellness in the Department of Internal Medicine and the Acting Director for the Diabetes Translational Research Center (both at IU School of Medicine), as well as President of Healthcare and Education at the American Diabetes Association.
Having grown up seeing how diabetes can affect a community, it’s gratifying for de Groot to go to work every day knowing she's helping to improve the lives of those affected by the disease.
Her ability to serve this community, both as a clinician and a researcher, has only expanded during her time at the IU School of Medicine, something she attributes to the wealth of expertise available at the school and across the university.
“This has been an extraordinary period of time in the history of diabetes and public health,” de Groot said. “We are very fortunate to have so many experts across so many areas at one institution and a highly collaborative culture.”
