City Spotlight: Oakland, California
Shining the sickle cell spotlight on Oakland, California, reveals a rich history of activism, medicine, and commitment that began in the 1960’s and continues into the twenty-first century. In 2016, the Northern California Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center at Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland (now UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland) remains the epi-center for sickle cell treatment and research serving the San Francisco Bay area and surrounding region in Northern California.
City Spotlight: Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta has long been a national center for the treatment of sickle cell disease and for cutting edge research on this blood disorder that affects more than 100,000 patients in the United States and millions worldwide. In 1978 Emory University Hospital recruited James R. Eckman, MD to come to Atlanta to start and direct a new center for sickle cell disease at Grady Memorial Hospital. The first 24-hour clinic in the world devoted to sickle cell patients, in 2016, the Georgia Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center at Grady has a staff of thirty, sponsors research and has treated thousands of patients.