Dr. Francisco Prieto is a family physician in Sacramento, California, member of the American Diabetes Association (Association) National Advocacy Committee and its Latino Diabetes Action Council—and former president of the Association's Sacramento Sierra Chapter. And, very importantly, he is also a member of the Association’s Health Care Professional (HCP) Legal Advocacy Network.

Dr. Prieto graduated from the University of Minnesota Medical School, did his residency at the University of Arizona, and has been in practice for 34 years. Among his many additional, professional affiliations are American Academy of Family Physicians; Physicians for Social Responsibility; Associate Clinical Professor, Family Practice, University of California, Davis; Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society; California Medical Association and Member, Independent Citizens Oversight Committee of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine—California's Stem Cell Research Institute.

How did Dr. Prieto begin working with the Association? An avid cyclist, he was recruited by an endocrinologist colleague to ride in the Tour de Cure. "I was always pestering her about diabetes, and she asked if I would like to help with medical support and backup," Dr. Prieto says. "I said sure, as I was interested in doing the ride anyway." From there, he joined the Tour de Cure planning committee and got his medical group and health system involved. He, also, served as a Safe at School® volunteer before joining the Association's national committees.

In the state of California and on the national level, Dr. Prieto has been very involved in the Safe at School® campaign. He testified on the issue and "was instrumental in securing support from other organizations, particularly the California Academy of Family Physicians," per Lisa Murdock, Managing Director of the Association's State Government Affairs Program. Dr. Prieto has also testified on other Association legislative issues and, as a member of the HCP Legal Advocacy Network, has been very helpful on many, additional Safe at School® campaign issues.

Encouraging Words from Dr. Prieto: "There are many, many ways to be an advocate. One of the easiest ways is to sign up at diabetes.org to be an Advocate and receive the action alerts that ask you to send an email to your legislators, relating to a diabetes issue. You can go from that very small step of sending an e-mail to actually visiting your legislators. If you want to make a change, and that change involves some kind of change in the law or policy, you have to tell someone."