Nadia Islam, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Population Health at NYU Langone Health and a Bangladeshi-American, is committed to helping the South Asian community in New York City prevent and manage type 2 diabetes. One unexpected challenge she discovered: transportation.

“Even though diabetes is so common, there’s a lack of awareness about how to manage and prevent it,” Dr. Islam tells Marketwatch. And a big part of diabetes management is showing up for appointments. But many South Asians, particularly women, have a hard time navigating an unfamiliar subway system in a different language, making it harder to get the medical attention they needed.

For this reason, Dr. Islam and a team of staff with strong roots in the city’s South Asian population work in their community to help patients get to the doctor. They also guide patients on integrating exercising and eating healthy in their day-to-day lives so they can better manage diabetes—or prevent it altogether.

Read more from Marketwatch.