Stark Diabetes Center

The Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Diabetes Center at the University of Texas Medical Branch is committed to leadership in diabetes care, education and research.

The Stark Center’s nine examination rooms have computers that present physicians with their patients’ latest laboratory test results. Some of those test results come from a laboratory established in the center by the School of Allied Health Sciences’ Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences. Blood and urine tests can be processed within several minutes so that the results are available by the time the patient is seen by the physician.

Telemedicine technology allows the center to extend its services to people with diabetes throughout Southeast Texas. Video cameras and high-speed telephone lines will enable the center’s specialists to interact with patients and their doctors in clinics many miles away. For example, the center is linked to Memorial Baptist Hospital in Orange via telehealth.

The Stark Diabetes Center conducts conferences and continuing medical education programs using telehealth technology. The twice-monthly conferences serve as forums for health care practitioners to discuss the latest therapies and discoveries about diabetes.

Services at the Stark Diabetes Center

The UTMB Adult Diabetes Education Program, offered in English and Spanish at the center, has been continuously recognized by the American Diabetes Association since 1993 for meeting national diabetes education standards. More than 1,000 patients enroll in the program each year.
A registered dietician helps patients develop meal plans to control their blood sugar levels. Special exercise programs are available for individuals with diabetes in the Department of Physical Therapy’s Primary Care Pavilion office.
Since diabetes is the leading cause of blindness, the Stark Center is collaborating with the Department of Ophthalmology to identify and treat patients with diabetic eye diseases.
A state-of-the-art retinal imaging system at the center allows the UTMB ophthalmologist, Dr. Helen K. Li, to view the interior of a patient’s eye from the Ophthalmology Clinic across campus.
The Stark Diabetes Center is collaborating with specialists in Orthopedics and Surgery to treat lower extremity ulcerations and foot abnormalities attributed to diabetic nerve damage and vascular disease, the leading causes of lower limb amputations.
Individuals with diabetes are two to four times more inclined to have heart disease, which is present in 75 percent of diabetes-related deaths-more than 77,000 deaths annually. To address these needs, the Stark Diabetes Center is collaborating with the Division of Cardiology to diagnose and treat cardiovascular disease at the center.


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