Senior Staff Physician
Clinical Investigator
Medical Director, Continuing Medical Education
Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Richard S. Beaser, MD, is an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a Senior Staff Physician practicing clinical diabetes at Joslin in Boston. He is also the Medical Director, Continuing Medical Education and Senior Strategic Advisor for Education Programs at Joslin Diabetes Center. Dr. Beaser is a native of Massachusetts, graduated from Trinity College, Hartford in 1973, and from Boston University School of Medicine with an MD degree in 1977. He did his residency at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester from 1977-1980. He was a fellow in endocrinology at the Joslin Diabetes Center, Boston, MA 1980-81, and in Endocrinology at the Lahey Clinic Medical Center, Burlington, MA 1981-82.

Dr. Beaser's main clinical interests are glucose management and professional education. He joined the staff of Joslin Diabetes Center in 1982. He has held numerous past positions at Joslin, including Section Chief of the Adult Diabetology Practice, Medical Director of the Diabetes Treatment Unit, and Coordinator of the Patient Education Section. He has been a clinical research investigator, including the landmark Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT). Dr. Beaser has authored multiple editions of four books: Joslin Diabetes Manual (1989), Outsmarting Diabetes (1994), The Joslin Guide to Diabetes (1995, 2005), and Joslin’s Diabetes Deskbook: A Guide for Primary Care Providers (2001, 2003, 2007, 2010, 2014). He is a well-known national lecturer/faculty on clinical diabetes and its comorbidities. He also has an active clinical practice of adult diabetes at both Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston and in Needham, Massachusetts.

Dr. Beaser founded the Professional Education Department at Joslin Diabetes Center in the early 1990’s, serving as its academic leader to extend the many educational outreach efforts of this world-recognized Diabetes Center. He is currently the Medical Director of the Continuing Medical Education Department, in which capacity Dr. Beaser is responsible for overseeing project and activity development. In his role as Senior Strategic Advisor, Education Programs at Joslin Diabetes Center, he leverages his years of experience in Professional Education to provide assistance to multiple other individuals and groups within Joslin who are developing professional education programs, materials, and interventions both domestically and internationally as part of Joslin’s world-wide educational outreach. In these roles, he continues to lecture, and develop and/or oversee educational content production for Joslin’s departmental activities, and consult on the academic development/production of various external educational projects which target physicians, other medical professionals, and patients.