Dr. Cece Calhoun is the medical director of the sickle cell program at Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital. She provides new developments in sickle cell disease research and what the community should know during sickle cell awareness month.
What are you thinking about during sickle cell disease awareness month this year? What is your message for patients?
“I think one of the most important things about this time is that awareness piece helping patients know that we see them, we care about them and we want to see them thrive, not just survive. I’m talking about not just at Yale Cancer Center, but also the people in New Haven, the community, we see you, we care about you. We want to lift you up. Having sickle cell disease is not something that you chose, but it's definitely something that we'll journey with you on together. And so I think bringing awareness and showing support, that's the most important, important part of this moment.”
What’s unique about the Yale Cancer Center sickle cell program?
"There are a few very unique things about Yale Cancer Center and our sickle cell program. When it comes to this program, this is our passion. Our team is quite multidisciplinary, it's not just a physician. We have social workers, we have a psychiatrist, we have our nurse coordinator who really develops intimate relationships with our patients. We also have a pharmacist, so we really have this multidisciplinary team. Every intervention, every therapy, every support that our patients with cancer have, our patients with sickle cell also have access too. It is a resource rich environment full of a team of people who can provide culturally competent care. We're also attached to a huge academic medical center.”
What is exciting to you in sickle cell disease research?
“There are so many new, cool, and exciting things going on in the field of sickle cell disease. I think what the scientific community is most excited about is the introduction of gene therapy or gene editing as a cure for sickle cell disease. It gives the opportunity for a person with sickle cell disease to have a procedure that allows them to either one no longer makes sickle cell disease, sickle cells, or to increase the amount of fetal hemoglobin, which is a type of red blood cell we make as a baby to decrease the amount of sickle cell producing in the body.”