About Us

JDRF is the leading supporter of type 1 diabetes (T1D) research in the world.

Our vision? A world without type 1 diabetes.

JDRF has transformed the understanding of this disease and been a part of every breakthrough in T1D care in the last 50 years. We drive innovation, demand action and stand with everyone facing life with T1D.

JDRF was founded in the USA more than 50 years ago when two mums had a dream that no family would have to feel the devastation of T1D like they had after their children received the diagnosis.

They didn’t just want better treatments, they wanted to find a cure.

At the same time two mums in Australia had a shared hope, and in 1972 Geraldine Pack and Lorna Mellor founded DIABS, later becoming The Diabetes Youth Foundation and finally JDRF Australia, an affiliate of the international foundation.

What began as a dream in family homes across the world has grown into a global organisation dedicated to ending T1D by making cutting-edge T1D research possible.

For the past five decades, JDRF Australia has been working tirelessly towards this cause, with every single dollar raised committed to taking a cure from hope to reality – while making the lives of people with T1D easier, safer, and healthier until that happens.

We connect the leading individuals in every discipline, industry and organisation with a single focus of eradicating T1D. With over 50 years of investment in the best researchers, we support an innovative pipeline of research from the earliest stages through to clinical trials of new treatments, devices and therapies. Alongside this, we advocate for greater access or financial support so that everyone living with T1D can access life-changing new therapies.

We work to improve the lives of those affected by type 1 diabetes in three ways.

Research: We evaluate the global research landscape and support the most promising programs from innovative early-stage research through to life-changing clinical trials – all with the goal of treating, preventing or curing T1D.

Advocacy: We push to shape government policy and approval for new treatments, advocating for research funding and financial support.

Community: We provide support for the T1D community, creating connections across the T1D field and sharing knowledge.

Until we find a cure we are working to make each day better, safer and easier than the day before for someone living with T1D.

Below are the numbers that count, just some of the collective achievements we have had to date.

• 20 people in Australia living insulin-free after an islet transplant
• 20% reduction in death rates among people with T1D
• 17.6 million finger pricks avoided since the beginning of the Government’s CGM funding initiative
• 12.8 million needles avoided through the insulin pump program
• 12 x increase in T1D clinical trials over the past 15 years

Together we will win the fight against T1D.

At the heart of everything we do at JDRF are the 130,000+ Australians who live with T1D and the 2,900+ children and adults who are newly diagnosed each year.

Our JDRF Blue Army is our community – those who are in battle with T1D every day and the families, carers, teachers and friends who fight to support them. It’s also our team, scientists, researchers, diabetes educators, nurses, parliamentarians, volunteers, corporate partners and donors who have accepted the mission to create a world without T1D.

The Blue Army is a movement that exists to defeat T1D by challenging yourself, hosting an event, creating your own event or joining a community event like a fun run and much more. By participating, you help JDRF to raise funds for researchers who are working to improve lives and cure T1D.

Together, with your help, we will create a world without T1D, so come join us!