Dr. Michels is a Professor of Pediatrics, Medicine, and Immunology at the Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes, which is part of the University of Colorado. He is a physician-scientist that has lived with type 1 diabetes for more than three decades and is committed to caring for patients with diabetes along with conducting research to prevent and ultimately cure the disease. His research focuses on understanding the immune mediated mechanisms of type 1 diabetes development and those that provide dominant protection from disease. Insights from this research have led to the design and testing of specific therapies to stop the autoimmune destruction of insulin producing pancreatic beta cells. There is also a strong focus within his laboratory to measure and monitor diabetes-specific T cell receptor sequences across the stages of type 1 diabetes development.