Katie Beth Hand

Katie Beth Hand is a type 1 diabetes patient advocate from Bryant, Arkansas, and the ninth participant in the Eledon Pharmaceuticals islet transplant study. The study runs at UChicago Medicine under Dr. Piotr Witkowski, director of its Pancreatic and Islet Transplant Program. She received donor-derived islets in January 2026, stopped basal insulin a week later, and was off insulin completely by March. The study pairs the transplant with tegoprubart, a monoclonal anti-CD40L antibody developed by Eledon that protects the graft without broadly suppressing the immune system. Broad immunosuppression is the barrier that keeps many people out of islet transplantation. She has described her path to insulin independence publicly, including with T1D Exchange and on diabetes podcasts, to inform others about cure research.

Affiliation

Patient Advocate and Islet Transplant Trial Participant

Location

Bryant, Arkansas, U.S.