Dr. Dessi Zaharieva has been fighting the good fight all her life. Not only does she live with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D), research the condition and advocate for others, but she also represents her country as a champion martial artist.
Born in Sophia, Bulgaria, Dessi was a healthy, active child who enthusiastically took part in every sport she could access. However, only three years after immigrating to Canada, she found herself in a hospital having to translate a doctor’s verdict to her worried parents. She had been diagnosed with T1D (a condition with no known cure) and her whole life was about to change. She was just 7 years old.
Ever determined, Dessi took these new challenges head on and refused to be limited by them. She had been taking Taekwondo classes before the diagnosis and decided to continue her training, applying her grit to quickly progress to a competitive level. At just 16, she earned her place on Team Canada, competing at the biennial World Championships. The 2013 competition (which happened to be hosted in her birthplace and summer training ground of Bulgaria) marked a career highlight for Dessi. Here, in front of proud friends and family, she claimed the bronze medal for sparring. The following year she transitioned into Brazilian jiu jitsu and kickboxing where she continues fighting to this day.
But Dessi’s fight has never been limited to the ring. As one of only a few female athletes in a male dominated sport, and one of even fewer athletes with T1D, there was no roadmap to follow. Despite taking great care, without the availability of research to inform diabetes management for an athlete who is constantly training, Dessi found herself in the terrifying position of being hospitalized for hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) on multiple occasions.
Knowing that she could not be the only person experiencing these problems, Dessi became passionate about filling the gaps in diabetes research so that all could exercise safely.
In 2011, Dessi embarked on a Masters degree followed by a PhD at York University in Toronto. Here she became fast friends with her supervisor Dr. Mike Riddell, a leading researcher in T1D and exercise metabolism. Her research focused on preventing exercise-associated hypoglycemia in adults living with T1D. She then spent an intermediary period as a visiting postdoctoral fellow at the University of Melbourne, Australia, to work on novel technologies for T1D. In 2020, Dessi was awarded a prestigious fellowship to join Stanford University, California. Here she continues her research on T1D management around exercise but with a focus on young people.
Dessi’s research is being put into clinical practice to help countless people living with T1D, but she does not stop there. As an active member of the diabetes community, she supports an even wider audience by participating in youth coaching programmes, awareness and fundraising events, and has served as a spokesperson for diabetes biotechnology companies. Her goal is to make sure that people living with T1D are not restricted by their condition.
With dreams to one day open her own research lab and ultimately to conquer diabetes once and for all with a cure, the fight is far from over. Thankfully, Dessi is not throwing in the towel anytime soon.
— Written by Lynsey Boyce