The Center for Chronic Disease Research and Policy hosted the Mt Hood Diabetes Challenge June 23-25, 2025 at the Chicago Theological Seminary. The international health economics and diabetes simulation modeling conference began with a workshop taught by Philip Clarke, Professor of Health Economics and Director of the Health Economics Research Centre at Oxford University, who has served as Mt Hood’s chair since 2010.

Fifty-nine researchers from around the world participated in a Mt Hood conference record number of presentations on the health economics of diabetes, simulation modeling, economic evaluations, and policy innovation. The challenges, talks, and abstract sessions focused on quantifying the benefits and cost-effectiveness of weight reduction interventions. Plenary lectures were given by UChicago’s Eric Polley and Jonathan Ozik, as well as virtually by Talitha Feenstra of Rijksuniversiteit Gronigen.

The abstract sessions included presentations on screening strategies for childhood type 1 diabetes, the long-term effects of GLP-1 receptor agonists in prevention, and addressing health inequalities in diabetes care.

For the first time, the conference expanded beyond diabetes to pose additional challenges on osteoarthritis, by Karen Smith of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Chris Schilling of the University of Melbourne, and smoking by Tony Blakely of University of Melbourne and Jamie Tam of Yale School of Public Health.

Celebrating the 25th year of the Mt Hood Challenge found many repeat conference-goers reminiscing over the collegial competition, friendships, and collaborations developed over years of dialogue.

“We were thrilled to have Mt Hood return for a second time to the University of Chicago,” said CDRP director Elbert Huang. “Simulation modeling on chronic disease is a pillar of our work at the CDRP. The opportunity to gather and compare methods and results with researchers from around the world is invaluable to refining our work and sparking new partnerships.”