The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Coastal Carolina Branch presented local endocrinologist and diabetes advocate Paul Whitesides Jr. with its 2016 Living and Giving Award, the organization announced recently.  
 
Whitesides was honored for his “more than 30 years of commitment and dedication caring for people in the greater Wilmington, N.C. area living with Type 1 diabetes,” according to a news release, which further stated that the physician was the first endocrinologist to establish a specialized diabetes practice in the Wilmington area.
 
The award was bestowed at the JDRF’s Hope Gala earlier this month.
 
The Living and Giving Award is presented each year to a family, individual or local business who has contributed to the success of JDRF’s mission to find a cure for Type 1 diabetes.   

Whitesides graduated from Duke University with a degree in chemistry and earned his medical degree from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. He completed his medical internship and residency at the Medical College of Virginia and later held a fellowship in endocrinology at Duke University.

Whitesides moved to Wilmington in 1982 to establish an endocrine practice. He joined Hanover Medical Specialists in 1988 and later moved to Wilmington Health, where he practiced until his retirement in 2015.