| Featured Research The future of sickle cell disease: Highlights from the James B. Herrick Symposium “I have made hundreds of trips to the hospital in the middle of the night in Cleveland, Boston, and Baltimore to see my patients, often writhing in pain, in septic shock, fighting to breathe. “I will never forget sitting next to Anthony, whose wedding I had attended earlier in the day, admitted for a pain crisis. Remarkably, he had not lost his sense of humor—he glanced over as I came in the room at 3:30 a.m. and said, ‘Jeans? I’ve never seen you in jeans!’ As he and his new wife left the hospital the next week, we had a long talk about why I had been able to shepherd him into adulthood, but had left him with such a burden of disease.” —NHLBI Acting Director Dr. Susan Shurin, speaking at the Herrick Symposium. To mark the 100th anniversary of the first published description of sickle cell disease in Western medical literature, several hundred scientists, clinicians, and members of the sickle cell community gathered for the James B. Herrick Symposium—Sickle Cell Disease Care and Research: Past, Present, and Future. Attendees offered personal perspectives, addressed the importance of patient-provider communication, introduced upcoming clinical guidelines, and discussed potential future treatments. Read a summary of symposium highlights. Sickle Cell Disease Resources Information for health professionals, the public, and researchers on sickle cell disease and sickle cell trait. - Sickle Cell Disease Guidelines: Draft Recommendations on the Use of Hydroxyurea Therapy
- A Century of Progress: Milestones in Sickle Cell Disease Research and Care brochure, 2010 (6.9 MB PDF)
- Sickle Cell Disease Awareness and Education Strategy Development Workshop Report, 2010 (2 MB PDF)
- Sickle cell anemia information, quiz, and widget
- Sickle Cell Disease Information Center
Patient Voice: Tiffany McCoy  “The doctors told my parents that I probably wouldn’t live to see my 18th birthday. Sickle cell was like a death sentence, but now it’s totally the opposite. I mean, people can live effective, prosperous lives, healthy lives with sickle cell disease, so I think that we’ve come a long way.” —Tiffany McCoy
Listen to Tiffany talk about living with sickle cell disease in this compelling short video. NEW NIH Funding Opportunity NIH Director’s Early Independence Award Program The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Common Fund announces the highly selective NIH Director’s Early Independence Award Program. The program provides a mechanism for exceptional, early career scientists who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents to omit traditional postdoctoral training and move into independent academic positions at U.S. institutions directly upon completion of their graduate degrees (Ph.D., M.D., or equivalent). Junior scientists may identify a host institution and contact it directly to negotiate a position. Alternatively, institutions may actively recruit exceptional junior scientists to apply for these positions. Learn more about the new Early Independence Award Program. | 