Starr County, Texas, sits on the Texas-Mexico border along the banks of the Rio Grande River. Populated largely by Mexican Americans, the county has one of the highest prevalence rates of type 2 diabetes in the entire country, and the highest diabetes death rate in Texas.

A full 50% of the adults over the age of 35 in Starr County either have diabetes themselves or have a first-degree relative with the disease, which means they are at very high risk of getting it themselves. Geneticists from The University of Texas at Houston School of Public Health have been working in Starr County for decades trying to determine why the diabetes rate is so elevated there.

Since 1988, Dr. Sharon Brown, Associate Vice President of Research at The University of Texas at Austin, has been helping residents of Starr County manage their diabetes. She says that from the beginning, "Our intent has been to address the cultural needs of Mexican Americans with diabetes, because to this day in many communities around the U.S., Mexican Americans are still being misadvised in terms of what they need to do to manage their condition on a day-to-day basis."

Her approach: information, education, bilingual classes and counseling, free home blood glucose monitoring equipment and lab work, Spanish-language diabetes training videotapes, and family and community involvement.

Well over a decade after her project began, the diabetes intervention program is a resounding success with a 90% retention rate. Program participants are eager to have their friends and family members join.

And the Starr County diabetes research study has prompted similar studies throughout the country. UT's Sharon Brown is contacted nearly every week to consult on new projects or to share the Starr County materials, such as the videotapes and data collection instruments. Several years ago she was invited to the Mayo Medical School as the first nurse visiting professor to consult with Mayo's diabetes education programs.

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