What sets her aside from most experts in diabetes is her expertise and passion for the use of innovative approaches to managing diabetes using fitness, nutrition, technology and medical devices
Mary Rose Deraco, RN, BSN, CDCES
Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist
Mary Rose Deraco RN, BSN, CDE is a certified diabetes educator (CDE) with 31 years of experience in the field of diabetes and she is thrilled to be back with her “family” of previous patients and colleagues at USC. She lives with her two teenage sons and is a working artist in her spare time.
A graduate of Hahnemann University in Philadelphia, PA, she recently returned to USC Westside Center for Diabetes after spending the last decade working in diabetes industry and outpatient clinical settings.
Mary Rose has a diverse background in both clinical diabetes, nutrition, fitness, medical device and pharmaceutical industry clinical education programs. She began her carrier in diabetes at Los Angeles Children’s Hospital where she worked in a special unit for children with diabetes. Early in her career, Dr. Peters hired and trained her to be a diabetes nurse specialist, she has continued to be a mentor and friend for the past 27 years.
She co-authored several publications with Dr. Peters on insulin management, algorithms for clinical care of diabetes and books on diabetes for both patients and medical providers. She went on to complete UCLA extension’s certification program for health and fitness training in order to develop expertise in coaching patients with diabetes on safe and effective fitness programs. During the early years with Dr. Peters, she developed a special interest in insulin pumps and soon the practice had the largest population of insulin pump patients in the Los Angeles basin.
