Lucas Fogarty: Longtime Diabetes Champion and Future Physician Assistant

This story is one of a series titled "Profiles of Passion," which features incoming SMU students who have demonstrated their dedication to transforming healthcare in their communities and the world even before their first day of classes. Click here for other stories in the series.

Lucas Fogarty has spent the past decade traveling the globe to motivate people with diabetes to lead active and healthy lifestyles.

“I’m inspired by helping people believe in themselves,” said the 28-year-old.

One of only five Americans named by the International Diabetes Federation as one of its Young Leaders in Diabetes, Fogarty volunteers his time to promote awareness about the disease in places as far away as Indonesia, and in his own Bay Area community.

In 2012, Fogarty created the Diabetes Sports and Health camp (DASH) to teach children techniques for managing their blood sugar, encourage them to exercise, and empower them to speak up about their condition to their families, friends and medical providers.

“He’s a visionary,” said Kathy Love, a registered dietician at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, who volunteers at Fogarty’s camp. “His actions do good for a lot of people, locally in the diabetes community and internationally.”

Now Fogarty is taking his dedication a step further by enrolling in the Master Physician Assistant program at Samuel Merritt University (SMU). He said his SMU education will help him grow DASH and realize his goal of opening a weekend clinic to help juvenile diabetics navigate the path to adulthood.

“I chose Samuel Merritt University because the interview process was the most heartfelt,” said Fogarty. “They really tried to understand who I was.”

Fogarty was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when he was 6-years-old, but said he kept quiet about it even as he struggled to keep his blood sugar in balance while playing competitive sports.  

After graduating from high school in Berkeley, he became a counselor at Bearskin Meadows Camp in Sequoia National Forest for children, teens and families affected by diabetes. The experience kindled Fogarty’s passion for helping kids with diabetes thrive through education, sports and proper nutrition.

Fogarty played football and baseball in college while volunteering at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles’ pediatric diabetes clinic. After college, he moved to Belgium in 2010 to play American football and baseball.

When his professional sports contract was up, Fogarty decided to return to California to fulfill his dream of opening a camp that would support children with diabetes and their families.

“It really was where my heart was,” said Fogarty, who also volunteers as a health coach at Oakland’s Highland Hospital diabetes clinic. “I can’t describe what it feels like to give back by just being yourself.”

Fogarty does not get paid for his work at DASH, which survives mainly on grants, in-kind donations from businesses, and volunteers. DASH reaches more than 500 campers each year, many of whom do not have diabetes but live in communities like Oakland and East Palo Alto that experience disproportionately high rates of the disease.

SMU Assistant Professor Marjorie Hammer, who has been placing her nursing students at DASH for their clinical pediatric rotations for four years, said Fogarty’s focus on underserved communities demonstrates true leadership.

“Everyone Lucas interacts with is inspired by him,” said Hammer. “He rises to the occasion with compassion over and over again and sees the best in every person.”