American Diabetes Association to Honor IIT Chicago-Kent Professor Edward Kraus

IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law Clinical Professor Edward Kraus has been named the recipient of a Stop Diabetes Award from the American Diabetes Association (ADA). The award will be presented on November 15 at the ADA's 2013 Community Volunteer Leadership Conference in Nashville, Tennessee.

The Stop Diabetes Award is given to an individual, group or organization that has excelled in the promotion of health awareness, research, advocacy, wellness and/or disease prevention in line with the goals of the Stop Diabetes campaign to: "Stop Ignorance, Stop Discrimination, Stop Complications and Stop Diabetes."

A member of the IIT Chicago-Kent Law Offices faculty since 1999, Professor Kraus teaches courses in disability law and consumer health benefits. He is also the supervising attorney for the law school's Health and Disability Law Clinic. In his clinical practice, Professor Kraus represents individuals in a variety of civil matters, including vaccine injury claims, Social Security disability law, long-term disability benefits, and disability discrimination. Since 2007, Professor Kraus has focused part of his practice on representing and advocating for individuals with diabetes in various matters, including education, civil rights, criminal and insurance matters.

Professor Kraus was part of a team of IIT Chicago-Kent faculty and students who played an integral role in securing passage of the Care of Students with Diabetes Act. The Illinois law, which took effect December 1, 2010, clarifies the rights and responsibilities of students, parents, schools and healthcare personnel related to students with diabetes who need assistance or care during the school day and at school-sponsored activities.

In 2011, he was appointed by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to serve on the Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines.

Professor Kraus graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in English from the University of Michigan. He earned his law degree, cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center.

Founded in 1888, IIT Chicago-Kent is the law school of Illinois Institute of Technology, a private, Ph.D.-granting institution with programs in engineering, psychology, architecture, business, design and law.

The Law Offices of Chicago-Kent is a teaching law firm with a dual mission: to provide high-quality clinical education to over 150 student interns and externs who enroll each semester; and to deliver outstanding legal services to its clients. A unique aspect of the Law Offices' in-house clinical program is its fee-generating model in which experienced and highly competent lawyers deliver competitively priced legal services.

The Health and Disability Law Clinic in the Law Offices of Chicago-Kent is part of the multidisciplinary IIT Center for Diabetes Research and Policy that engages in legal advocacy and representation to protect the rights of people with diabetes. The clinic works to fight discrimination and protect the rights of children and adults with diabetes throughout the state of Illinois. Faculty, attorneys and law students in the clinic provide free legal advice and representation in matters that often involve children with diabetes who face discrimination in schools.