Mike Arndorfer
Member of the Cox Parent Advisory Board from 2014-2017
What is one thing you really like about being a member of a patient advisory committee?
The thing I like most about being a member of the patient advisory committee is giving back to the medical community and patient population that has helped us through many tough spots in learning how to manage a child with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D).
What is one one interesting experience you had at a patient advisory committee meeting or a time when you thought the patient input really helped the research team?
The research team did an excellent job of communicating their appreciation for our input. Learning about how that input was used to make the experience better for the participants and increase the response rate achieved in the study was very rewarding.
How has being part of a patient advisory committee affected your attitude about research?
As a family, we have always understood the necessity of clinical medical research and that only increased with our son’s T1D diagnosis at the age of 4. Being a part of the patient advisory committee reinforced that positive attitude and showed how dedicated the clinical researchers are to helping the patient population.
Tell us something interesting about yourself that people might be surprised to learn!
It often surprises people to learn that we enrolled our son in a clinical study based out of Houston, Texas right after our son was diagnosed with T1D. It involved five trips to Houston over a year where three of the trips it was just he and I. It’s quite something traveling with a newly diagnosed 4 year old with T1D all by yourself.
Each month, WINRS interviews a community or patient advisor about their experiences on an advisory board or committee. Know someone on one of your advisory boards who might want to be interviewed? Email svabek@wisc.edu