Athena Philis-Tsimikas, MD

Athena Philis-Tsimikas, MD, is a specialist in endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism. She is the corporate vice president of the Scripps Whittier Diabetes Institute at Scripps Health and the director of community engagement for the Clinical Translational Science Award, housed at Scripps Research Translational Institute in San Diego. 

With over 25 years of experience, she has served as a member of the Scripps Clinic Medical Group in the Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes and leads the diabetes care line for Scripps Health which creates programs, conducts research and delivers diabetes services across five Scripps hospitals, 25 outpatient facilities and the community.  

Dr. Philis-Tsimikas is a leader of the innovative Project Dulce and Dulce Digital program which cares for under-resourced populations with diabetes. Dr. Philis-Tsimikas and Scripps Whittier Diabetes Institute are actively promoting participation of health centers in community-based clinical research with a focus on integrating digital technologies to improve diabetes care in the ambulatory and hospital setting. She is also Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at UCSD’s Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Dr. Philis-Tsimikas’ contributions to science include development of alternative, team-based care management programs for diverse patient populations; evaluation of telemedicine approaches to care and self-management education; creation and oversight of the Diabetes Medicines Clinical Trials program for Scripps Health; establishment of a systemwide glucose management program for a large community-based integrated health-care system; and assessment of health-care impact on costs in the diabetes population.  

Dr. Philis-Tsimikas enjoys traveling, biking and harvesting olives to make extra virgin olive oil in Greece.