Participants

STEERING COMMITTEE
 
Solomon Ofori-Acquah,  Ambroise Wonkam, Neil Hanchard, Richard Cooper
 
Project Coordinators:  Nallely Mora, Helen Nde
 
 
WORKING GROUP MEMBERS
 
Solomon Ofori-Acquah, Bamidele Tayo, Ambroise Wonkam, Titilola Akingbola, Guillaume Lettre, Victor Gordeuk, Santosh Saraf, Neil Hanchard, Helen Nde, Richard Cooper 
 
 
COORDINATING CENTER
 
Department of Public Health Sciences, Loyola University Medical School, Maywood, IL
 
 
 
AFFILIATED INSTITUTIONS
(Click underlined names for selected publications)
 
 
 
Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, Chicago, IL
 
Richard Cooper, MD
 
Dr. Cooper is a physician epidemiologist with extensive experience in international research, particularly on the African continent. He has pioneered studies of racial disparities in disease and is a consultant with the WHO and the CDC on matters related to cardiovascular disease in developing countries. He currently serves as chairman of the Department of Public Health Sciences at Loyola University.
 
Bamidele Tayo, PhD
 
Dr. Tayo is a genetic epidemiologist and statistical geneticist with Loyola University’s Department of Public Health Sciences. His research interests include genetic linkage and association mapping of complex human diseases and traits and analyzing statistical methods for genetic linkages. He is currently a co-principal investigator for a Doris Duke Charitable Foundation sponsored clinical trial study of sickle cell disease in Nigeria. 
 
 
 
College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Nigeria; Department of Hematology 
 
 
Dr Akingbola is a consultant hematologist and senior lecturer at the Department of Hematology at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria. She is also a core member of the clinical team at the University Hospital which manages cases of individuals with sickle cell disease in both adult and children clinics on a weekly basis.
 
 
Center for Translational and International Hematology; Heart, Lung, Blood and Vascular Medicine Institute, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
 
 
Dr. Ofori-Acquah is a molecular geneticist and basic and translational investigator in sickle cell disease, and visiting associate professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. His current work is focused heme signaling in the endothelium and on acute chest syndrome, a complication of sickle cell disease. He currently holds multiple NIH grants to explore paths to manage acute chest syndrome and chronic organ dysfunction in sickle cell disease.  He directs the Center for Translational and International Hematology which focuses research efforts on sickle cell disease in partnership with programs in Africa.
 
 
 
Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center, University of Illinois Medical School, Chicago
 
 
Dr. Gordeuk is a professor of medicine and director of the Sickle Cell Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has extensive experience in leading multi-center clinical and translational research projects. He is part of the team that has responsibility for characterizing the predictors of complications of sickle cell disease in the Walk-PHaSST study. He has  extensive experience in training candidates in translational research related to sickle cell disease.
 
 
Dr. Hsu is a pediatric hematologist and professor of pediatrics at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Medicine. He also is the pediatric director of the Sickle Cell Center. Dr. Hsu ‘s research interests include bone marrow transplants, inflammation vasculopathy, health disparities and health education.  He has been involved in the development of four websites dedicated to sickle cell patient education.
 
 
Dr. Saraf is assistant professor of medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Medicine. He completed a fellowship in hematology and oncology at UIC and is currently pursuing a Master’s in Clinical and Translational Research. Dr. Saraf’s research interests include hematology associated clinical outcomes related to factors such as ethnicity and access to care, chronic organ injury in sickle cell disease, and allogeneic stem cell transplantation for clinically aggressive sickle cell disease. 
 
 
 
 
 
Center of Global Health and Development, Kisumu, Kenya
 
George Ayodo, PhD
 
Dr. George Ayodo is a genetic epidemiologist and a director of CGHCD-Kenya, and also a lecturer at Maseno University, Kisumu, Kenya.  His research focuses on identifying potential biomarkers for diagnosis of Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) and characterizing SCD modifier genes. He collaborates with Dr. Guillaume Lettre of Montreal University, Canada.
 
 
Montreal Heart Institute, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
 
 
Dr. Lettre is an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Montreal and the Montreal Heart Institute. He holds the Canada Research Chair in Complex Trait Genetics. He runs a laboratory dedicated to conducting research around the genetics of complex human diseases and traits, including sickle cell disease, using genome-wide genotyping and sequencing methods.
 
 
 
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi Collaborative Center for Research, and Division of Hematology, Department of Pediatrics,  Kumasi, Ghana 
 
Ellis Owusu-Dabo, MBChB, PhD
 
Dr. Owusu-Dabo is a  public health physician specializing in medical epidemiology. He is also the scientific director of the Kumasi Collaborative Center for Research in Tropical Medicine. In addition, he lectures at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. His research interests include the epidemiology of non-communicable disease, population genetics of pulmonary tuberculosis and health systems research.
 
 

Mother and Child Centre, and Central Hospital, Yaoundé, Cameroon 

 
Valentina Bitoungui
 
Valentina is a PhD Candidate at the Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences of the University of Yaoundé 1, Cameroun. She is currently pursuing a research-based doctoral degree on Sickle Dell Disease (SCD), focusing on investigating genomic variations associated with fetal hemoglobin levels  in Cameoronian sickle cell disease patients. Her  main goal is to be involved in furthering the research into SCD. 
 
 
 
Division of Human Genetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
 
 
Dr. Wonkam is a consultant medical geneticist and an associate professor at the Division of Human Genetics, Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Cape Town , South Africa. He is also an adjunct professor at the Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Yaoundé I, in his native country, Cameroon. Dr.  Wonkam leads the effort to establish prenatal screening and diagnosis of sickle cell anemia in Cameroon and pioneered the establishment of medical genetics practice in the country. Furthermore, he is the founder and president of the Cameroonian Society of Human Genetics and board member of the African Society of Human genetics in charge of Central Africa.
 
 
 
Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, and Children’s Nutrition Research Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
 
 
Dr. Hanchard is a clinical and molecular geneticist and a pediatrician. He is also assistant professor of Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine. His research focusses on using genomics to explore complex pediatric disease traits. His specific areas of interest include severe childhood malnutrition, HIV/AIDS and the comorbidities of sickle cell disease. His interests also extend to the diagnostic use of genomic technology for families with atypical presentations of genetic disorders.

 

Division of Pediatric Infectious Disease, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE

 

 

Stephen Obaro, MD, PhD.

Dr. Stephen Obaro is a professor with the Division of Pediatric Infectious Disease at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. He is also a Fellow of the West African College of Physicians, The Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health, and The American Academy of Pediatrics. He is certified by the American Board of Pediatrics in General Pediatrics and Pediatric Infectious Diseases.  Dr. Obaro’s research interests include host immune responses to infections and the development and deployment of vaccines for the prevention of childhood infections. He co-chairs the Infectious Diseases in Sickle Cell Disease working group of the Global Sickle Cell Disease Network (GSCDN).