Medha Munshi, MD

Medha Munshi is a Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School. She is a geriatrician and an endocrinologist. She practices primary care geriatrics at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical center and directs a Geriatric Diabetes Program that she developed at the Joslin Diabetes Center. This is an interdisciplinary program beyond the traditional diabetes program, which includes considering clinical, functional and psychosocial barriers faced by older adults before formulating individualized treatment strategies.

The primary focus of Dr. Munshi’ s clinical research is to identify the challenges faced by older individuals with diabetes, to develop strategies to overcome these barriers, and to improve clinical and functional outcomes, including quality of life. One of the important areas for her investigation has been the risks and poor outcomes of hypoglycemia in the aging population. Her research team has performed several studies using continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) to detect unrecognized hypoglycemia in the older population, and improving the frequency of hypoglycemia by simplifying treatment regimens. These studies have resulted in the development of a “reverse algorithm” that can be used by clinicians to de-intensify complex insulin regimens in frail older adults. The recent focus of her team is to assess the use of technology to improve diabetes care and quality of life in older adults with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.