Former Miss America partners with JDRF for Walk to Cure Diabetes

She may be known for being Miss America 1999, but these days Nicole Johnson is more concerned with bringing awareness to diabetes and USF Health’s Bringing Science Home Project for which she serves as executive director. Johnson has also partnered with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International, specially the Sun Coast chapter, for the Walk to Cure Diabetes that will take place Saturday, March 26, on Siesta Key Beach. 

Johnson was diagnosed in 1993 with Type 1 diabetes after collapsing on stage during a pageant. She was 19 and doctors and other health professionals told her that she should quit college and change her dream of being in journalism or in pageants for a more predictable job. Despite what she had been told, Johnson graduated college, has gone on to get her master’s and is now working toward her doctorate at USF.

If you would still like to register a team or get involved go to www.jdrf.org to learn more.