Breakthrough T1D North Gulf Coast is set to hold its 2026 Tampa Bay Dream Gala on November 7, honoring Dr. Henry and Janet Rodriguez for their work on type 1 diabetes research and care. The evening will spotlight two researchers whose work touches patients across Tampa Bay, as the nonprofit continues its push to fund research toward better treatments and, eventually, a cure.
Dr. Henry Rodriguez directs the USF TrialNet Clinical Center and has led national and international studies on type 1 diabetes, according to Breakthrough T1D's event page. Janet Rodriguez leads the Diabetes Technology Clinical and Clinical Research Programs at the USF Diabetes and Endocrinology Center, the same event listing notes. Breakthrough T1D describes itself on that page as the leading global organization funding type 1 diabetes research, a framing echoed by the nonprofit itself as it prepares to spotlight the couple's local contributions on a national stage.
The gala comes a year after Breakthrough T1D's Tampa event, which raised more than $1.4 million, according to a Tampa Bay Times report that also described the organization as the world's leading Type 1 diabetes research, education and advocacy organization. How much this year's gala raises has not yet been reported.
Why Tampa Bay Families Keep Showing Up
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition that leaves the pancreas producing very little or no insulin, forcing people with the disease to rely on insulin therapy for survival, as Tampa Bay 28 has reported. The outlet's reporting notes the condition affects more than 2 million Americans and roughly 9 million people worldwide, and that nearly half of all diagnoses now occur in adulthood. There is currently no cure.
Left unmanaged, the station's report notes, type 1 diabetes can bring both short- and long-term complications, including dangerous blood sugar swings along with kidney, eye, nerve, and heart damage, and in severe cases, death. Scientists link the onset of the disease to genetic factors and environmental triggers, not diet or lifestyle, per the same account.
Research Pointing Toward New Options
The push for better treatment isn't just local framing. Research cited by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes teplizumab as the first major treatment option for people with type 1 diabetes since insulin therapy was developed more than a century ago, according to the CDC. Separate genetics research published by the National Institutes of Health describes type 1 diabetes as a multifactorial disease with a strong genetic component, caused by the autoimmune destruction of the pancreas's insulin-producing beta cells, according to a study hosted on PMC.
The scale of the broader disease burden underscores why fundraisers like Tampa's carry weight beyond one ballroom. A national analysis estimated 2.07 million people had type 1 diabetes in its 2024 baseline model year, including 1.79 million adults and roughly 280,000 children, according to a study indexed on PubMed. Diabetes overall, encompassing both type 1 and type 2, affected an estimated 40.1 million people in the United States in 2023, or about 12% of the population, according to the CDC's National Diabetes Statistics Report.
A Community Moment Built Around Research Funding
Breakthrough T1D, formerly known as JDRF, describes its mission as improving daily life for people with type 1 diabetes while driving toward cures, advancing that work through research investment, government advocacy, and education and empowerment efforts, per Tampa Bay 28's reporting. The Tampa Dream Gala fits into that broader strategy by channeling a single night of local giving into the organization's research pipeline.
For families managing a lifelong, incurable condition, the gala represents a tangible show of community support translating into dollars for labs and clinical trials. With Dr. Henry and Janet Rodriguez being honored for their contributions to that research and patient care, the Nov. 7 gathering gives Tampa Bay another chance to put its weight behind the search for a cure.
