[HIATUS] THE SICKLE: Fighting Medical Disparities with Sickle Cell Disease (Episode Three)

Sickle cell disease (SCD) can affect many areas, including daily life, and some of the effects can be lifelong. More so, SCD impacts the quality of life for many patients in the form of depression, anxiety, executive function, and more. In partnership with The Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, Matthew Zachary Worldwide presents “The Sickle,” a three-part limited series for patients and caregivers. In each episode, you’ll hear from the people living with SCD and experts who work every day to improve their lives. We’ll learn about the lifelong care, interpersonal relationships, and medical disparities people with SCD live with and what we can do to improve them.

EPISODE THREE

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is the most common blood disorder worldwide. About 7 million people have been diagnosed with SCD, and about 100 million people have sickle cell trait. Around 300,000 babies are born with SCD each year. For a rare disease, SCD is quite common, yet patients with SCD are still facing discrimination from funders, researchers, and medical professionals. Still, today, medical professionals are not thoroughly educated on how painful living with SCD can be. In this episode, Joel Helle, vice president of physician services at CVS Health, explains how medical professionals are still behind on SCD awareness. Ahmar Zaidi, SCD advocate and medical director at Agios Pharmaceuticals, talks about his experience as a medical professional working with SCD patients. Our previous guests, Dr. Lewis Hsu, Justina Williams, Dr. Carolyn Rowley, and Andre Harris, talk about the discrimination SCD patients face and how we can help end it.

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