BoostT1D wins Rep. Jake Auchincloss’ 2025 Congressional App Challenge in Massachusetts’s Fourth District

When asked what inspired the creation of BoostT1D, Aaron Prager said, “I was diagnosed with T1D when I was just a toddler, and for fifteen years it has been a constant challenge. Every meal, activity, and decision affects blood sugar. I grew up calculating carbs, adjusting insulin doses, correcting highs and lows, and trying to explain my daily reality to doctors who only saw a few pages of data every few months.

“The idea for BoostT1D came from frustration. I used dozens of apps and devices, but none of them made life easier. They either oversimplified what mattered or demanded more work when I was already exhausted. I wanted something that could help people make smart decisions in the moments that count, not hours later or at the next appointment.

“The first idea came to me at dinner with my friends who also have T1D. We were all staring at our plates, trying to estimate the carbs, and someone joked that we needed a ‘carb scanner.’ I couldn’t stop thinking about it. That night, I came home and started working on what would become one of the app’s core features.

“As I kept developing the idea, I started thinking more about how we manage therapy. We wait months to make changes to our doses with an endocrinologist, but those calculations could be computerized. I began building features that could identify patterns and offer safe insights so users could understand their own glucose trends instead of guessing.

“Last summer, I had the honor of being selected to represent Massachusetts at the Breakthrough T1D Children’s Congress in Washington, D.C., where I participated in a Senate hearing and met with our senators and my Representative Auchincloss’s staff to share my story. Connecting with other young people with T1D reminded me how different everyone’s experience is, yet how much we all want the same thing: more freedom.

“As I kept building, I added features based on problems I’ve faced, like delayed insulin adjustments, confusing glucose trends, forgetting to log, and feeling isolated. I added the Buddy Network because I knew how important it is to feel seen and supported, especially for teens managing this condition on their own.

“This app is inspired by my own journey, the amazing people I’ve met in the diabetes community, and the belief that with the right tools, living with T1D doesn’t have to be so overwhelming.”