Faculty

Amy Butts, PA-C, President, American Society of Endocrine PAs
Amy Butts is a physician assistant/associate who is a distinguished fellow of the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA), a certified diabetes care and education specialist, and is board certified in advanced diabetes management. Amy has specialized in endocrinology for 23 years. She currently works as an endocrine PA for WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital in an outpatient endocrine clinic in Wellsburg, West Virginia. She has served on several volunteer groups for ADA and ADCES. She is on the Editorial board for the ADA's publication Clinical Diabetes. Amy is the current President for ASEPA (American Society of Endocrine Physician Assistants). Amy has spoken at several AAPA conferences and ADA conferences and does education for various CME organizations. She is the owner of Amy Butts Metabolic Consulting, LLC. She has been awarded America's Top Physician Assistant by Point of Care Network (POCN) for two years in a row, 2020 and 2021.

Davida F. Kruger has been a certified nurse practitioner in diabetes for more than 35 years at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, Michigan. Her role includes both clinical practice and research. She is board certified by the American Nurses Association Credentialing Center in Primary Care and by the American Association of Diabetes Educators in Advanced Diabetes Management. She is past Chair of the American Diabetes Association's Research Foundation and has served on the American Diabetes Association's Research Policy Committee. She is also past president of Health Care and Education for the ADA. She served as editor of Diabetes Spectrum from 2005-2008. She served as the Editor in Chief of Clinical Diabetes from 2011-2016.

Lucia M. Novak is a nationally recognized authority in diabetes and obesity care, bringing more than three decades of clinical expertise to her work as a consultant, national speaker, author, educator, and advocate. A Board-Certified Adult Health Nurse Practitioner, she is also Board-Certified in Advanced Diabetes Management and holds the Certificate of Advanced Education in Obesity Medicine from the Obesity Medicine Association. Her career spans the full landscape of diabetes and obesity care—therapeutics, technologies, and the management of related complications and comorbidities—anchored by a deep commitment to patient care, professional education, and research.
Ms. Novak is the Founder and President of Diabesity LLC, a professional consulting firm in North Bethesda, Maryland. She is affiliated with Capital Diabetes and Endocrine Associates, providing general endocrine services at the Silver Spring and Camp Springs offices, where she also serves as Co-Executive Director of the Capital Health and Metabolic Center, a program focused on the holistic management of obesity and its related complications.
Her national leadership includes positions with the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, where she serves on the Practice Committee; the American Diabetes Association; the ADA Obesity Association, the Association of Diabetes Care and Education Specialists, and the Endocrine Nurses Society. She volunteers on committees for the Obesity Medicine Association, chairs and develops national continuing medical education programs, serves as a faculty presenter for The Obesity Society and numerous continuing education organizations, and is guest editor for an endocrinology-focused issue of The Nursing Clinics of North America. Through more than a decade of continuing education delivered across national platforms, she has reached thousands of clinicians. She is also Co-Host of Diabetes Day by Day, a monthly national podcast sponsored by the ADA that empowers people living with diabetes to live their best lives.
Her honors include Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (2026), the 2025 Top NP in America Award in Diabetes for Obesity, and Endocrinology, the 2025 Donna Tomky Award for Excellence in Clinical Practice, the DAISY Foundation Award for Extraordinary Nurses, and several Military honors.
Ms. Novak's career includes service as a Commissioned Officer of the United States Army Nurse Corps, as well as a decade as Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Nursing, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences—the nation's federal university dedicated to military medicine. She is most proud of being a Veteran and having had the opportunity to care for the men and women of the U.S. Military.

Leah Foster Smith, MSN, APRN, FNP-BC, CNN-NP, FNKF, Director of Advanced Practice Providers, Metrolina Nephrology Associates

Leah Foster Smith received her BSN and MSN-FNP from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 1996 and 2001, respectively. She joined Metrolina Nephrology Associates, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2001 as an ANCC Board-Certified Family Nurse Practitioner. Leah was promoted to director of advanced practice providers in 2007 and now supervises the largest group of nephrology APPs in the United States with a current total of 42 Nephrology APPs. She became a Certified Nephrology Nurse Practitioner (CNN-NP) as highest exam scorer in the United States in 2017, as well as a Fellow of the NKF. Leah is an APP practice clinical consultant with Clear Edge Medical Management assisting multiple nephrology practices in the utilization of nephrology APs. She is also the creator and chair of a formalized CKD program managing over 24,000 CKD patients. Leah is the chief education officer for Interactive Nephrology and creator of a formalized new nephrology APP training program entitled, Ready for Rounds, training more than 111 APPs from across the United States since its launch in June 2020.