Month: April 2026

Founding Member, Breakthrough T1D Canada 
Breakthrough T1D International Chancellor 

Breakthrough T1D Canada mourns the loss of Krayna Golfman, one of our founding members and a trailblazer in bringing the type 1 diabetes (T1D) movement to Canada. 

Krayna passed away peacefully on April 9, 2026. 

More than fifty years ago, Krayna helped bring to Canada an organization that had begun in the United States, transforming it into what would become Breakthrough T1D Canada. Working from her Montreal basement alongside other committed families, she played a pivotal role in establishing a national presence dedicated to accelerating research, improving care, and uniting the T1D community across this country. 

In the early 1970s, Krayna Golfman and Mitch Garfinkle each faced the life‑changing diagnosis of type 1 diabetes in their sons, David and Jimmy. At the time, little was understood about the disease, and research support was limited. Rather than accept the status quo, they joined with other families affected by T1D to build a Canadian organization grounded in action, urgency, and hope. 

A deeply proud mother, Krayna ensured her children grew up confident and fully engaged in life; playing sports, staying active, and learning to manage their diabetes day to day. That same resolve carried forward as her family grew. When her grandson was later diagnosed with T1D, Krayna’s commitment to advancing progress for future generations remained unwavering. She was equally proud of her role as a grandmother and great‑grandmother, cherishing family as both her motivation and her legacy. 

Behind the scenes, Krayna worked tirelessly to raise awareness and generate critical funding for T1D research, mobilizing the Montreal community through golf tournaments, galas, bike‑a‑thons, and countless grassroots initiatives that laid the foundation for long‑term impact. 

In recognition of her extraordinary leadership and enduring influence, Krayna was named a Breakthrough T1D International Chancellor, an honour reflecting the profound respect she earned across the global T1D community and the lasting significance of the work she helped establish in Canada. 

Krayna was deeply proud of what Breakthrough T1D Canada became. Over the past five decades, the organization she helped found has been at the forefront of major advances in T1D research and advocacy, contributing to improved care, access, and technologies that have extended both lifespan and quality of life for people living with T1D in Canada. 

Her legacy lives on through the progress she helped accelerate, the community she helped build, and her family, who remain closely and lovingly connected to this mission. 

As we remember Krayna, we honour a life defined by courage, leadership, and devotion to family. Breakthrough T1D Canada will continue her legacy by standing with the T1D community, advocating for equitable access to treatments and technologies, and funding the most promising research on the path toward cures. 

Our deepest sympathies are extended to her family, and to all those whose lives she touched. 

Gifts made in her memory will help carry forward the work she was so proud to help build. 

To learn more about Krayna’s remarkable life, please visit her obituary here.  

Memorial Gifts in Krayna’s Honour 

If you live with type 1 diabetes (T1D), or love someone who does, you know how much daily effort it takes to stay healthy and how urgently better treatments and cures are needed.

That’s why we want to share an important update.

Breakthrough T1D Canada has formally asked the federal government to partner with us to launch the Breakthrough T1D Network for Canada (BTNC) – a national effort designed to speed up the path to real, lasting treatments for T1D.

This proposal didn’t come out of nowhere. It was shaped over many months with input from dozens of stakeholders – researchers, clinicians, industry experts, policymakers, and members of the T1D community – all focused on one shared goal: making sure people in Canada can benefit from breakthrough therapies for T1D as soon as possible.

Why this matters for people living with T1D
Right now, some of the most promising T1D therapies in history are moving from the lab into human trials, including therapies designed to restore the body’s ability to make insulin.

But here’s the challenge: without coordination at a national level, Canada risks seeing those trials, expertise, and future treatments happen elsewhere, meaning Canadians could wait longer to access them.

The BTNC is about changing that.

It is designed to:
• Link expertise, ideas and efforts from across the country to reduce duplication and accelerate T1D research and innovation
• Bring T1D clinical trials to Canada faster
• Support more trial sites across the country
• Help ensure successful therapies are developed, tested, and delivered here at home

For the T1D community, that means earlier access to trials, clearer pathways to new therapies, and a stronger chance that life‑changing treatments reach people in Canada sooner.

What exactly is the Breakthrough T1D Network for Canada?
The BTNC is not a new building or a single research project.
It is a coordinated national network that would connect researchers, clinicians, hospitals, industry partners, and people living with T1D under one clear plan, with shared priorities, timelines, and standards.

In practical terms, the BTNC would:
• Actively manage a national portfolio of T1D research initiatives and trials
• Help trial sites launch and run studies more efficiently
• Support shared training, protocols, and knowledge‑sharing
• Work with partners to move successful therapies toward real‑world use

How this fits with Project ACT
If you’re familiar with Project ACT, this may sound aligned — and that’s intentional.

Project ACT is Breakthrough T1D’s global strategy to accelerate cell therapies as cures for T1D, by addressing not just science, but clinical trials, regulation, access, and health‑system readiness. The BTNC is a key part of how we’re achieving that strategy here in Canada. It focuses on making sure Canada has the systems, coordination, and partnerships needed to turn global progress into real access for people living with T1D here: not years later, and not somewhere else first.

Built with community and partner input
This proposal reflects conversations with dozens of stakeholders, including people from across the T1D research and innovation ecosystem. Their input helped shape a plan that is practical, realistic, and focused on results. We are grateful to the Stem Cell Network for their partnership and to the following organizations for their generous support of this stakeholder engagement work:

• Vertex Pharmaceuticals
• Sana Biotechnology
• Novo Nordisk Canada
• Allarta Life Science

Thanks to all those who participated in stakeholder consultations. Your willingness to share perspectives, ask hard questions, and keep the focus on people living with T1D helped strengthen this proposal and ensure it reflects real community priorities.

What happens next
The federal government is now considering our proposal.
If approved, this partnership would represent a significant step toward:
• Faster progress toward cures
• Stronger clinical trial opportunities in Canada
• A future where people living with T1D spend less time managing the disease and more time living their lives
• Global leadership for Canada in T1D research and trials

We’ll continue to keep you informed, and we’ll continue to advocate – alongside you – for a future without T1D.

Thank you for being part of this journey.