Sickle Cell Program


June 15, 2020

Cured: Arkansas Man’s Sickle Cell Disease Eliminated by Bone Marrow Transplant

Ben Boulden

Phillip Sanders, right, with his wife and young son, has been cured of sickle cell disease as a patient at UAMS Adult Sickle Cell Clinical Program and Johns Hopkins in Baltimore.

While Phillip Sanders’ journey to a cure for his sickle cell disease was ultimately successful, it was a path with peaks and valleys and struggles and challenges. It’s beginning was relatively undramatic and took place during a conversation in October 2017 just after the conclusion of the Sickle Cell Symposium organized by the UAMS Adult…


February 25, 2020

Patient Moves Forward in Sickle Cell Care and in Life

Ben Boulden

Jayla Buford recently transitioned into the UAMS Adult Sickle Cell Clinical Program from Arkansas Children's Hospital.

Feb. 25, 2020 | Maturing into adulthood often means leaving familiar things behind while embracing new ones, and Jayla Buford did just that in late 2019 as a sickle cell patient. Buford had been receiving care through the sickle cell program at Arkansas Children’s Hospital since she was 4. In late 2019, now an adult,…


October 1, 2019

Symposium Focuses on Past, Present, Future of Sickle Cell Disease Treatment

Ben Boulden

Issam Makhoul, M.D., lectures on the state of sickle cell disease treatment and research at the annual Sickle Cell Symposium at UAMS.

One patient with sickle cell disease can experience severe pain and other symptoms while another with the same disease type only has moderate or even mild pain crises, said UAMS’ Issam Makhoul, M.D. “What makes that disease so severe in one individual over another one?” he asked. “That’s what we need to learn more about….


January 22, 2019

Living with Sickle Cell, Pine Bluff Woman Retains Joy

Katrina Dupins

Doris Carter, 53, was diagnosed with sickle cell anemia when she was 3.

Doctors told her mother she wouldn’t live past childhood. But Doris Carter proudly announces that she has her hands full at age 53 working as a nurse’s aide in Pine Bluff, having raised two daughters and now keeping up with seven grandchildren. When she was 3, Carter was diagnosed with Sickle Cell Anemia, an inherited…


October 2, 2018

Symposium Spotlights Psychology of Sickle Cell Disease

Ben Boulden

The Rev. Johnny Smith talks about the faith community and attitudes toward illness and health.

By 2014, Shamonica Wiggins had reached a point where she couldn’t cope with her sickle cell disease. She felt lost and defeated until a therapist helped her try a new approach.


August 31, 2018

Sickle Cell Symposium Sept. 18 to Focus on ‘Mind, Body and Soul’

Ben Boulden

People with sickle cell disease, their families, health care professionals and the public are invited to the 2018 annual Sickle Cell Symposium at 6 p.m. Sept. 18 at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). The symposium is free.


November 21, 2017

Inspired Since Childhood, UAPB Graduate Hopes to One Day Treat Sickle Cell Patients

Katrina Dupins

Nov. 21, 2017 | Xavius Hymes, of Pine Bluff, has had a lifelong support group to help him mange sickle cell disease. Now the 22-year-old is looking to the future and the possibility of becoming a doctor to care for patients like himself. Diagnosed at birth, doctors say Hymes has always been proactive in taking…


October 27, 2017

Symposium Focuses on Bone Marrow Transplants for Sickle Cell

Ben Boulden

Oct. 27, 2017 | At the end of the Sickle Cell Symposium on Oct. 19 at UAMS, a young woman at a microphone during a question-and-answer session boiled the evening’s presentations down to one question: “I haven’t heard the word ‘cure’ used much tonight. Can you call this a cure?” Pooja Motwani, M.D., said, “Yes,…


September 21, 2017

Sickle Cell Disease

Tim Taylor

These programs were first broadcast the week of September 25, 2017.


September 15, 2017

Sickle Cell Symposium Oct. 19 to Focus on Stem Cell Transplants for Sickle Cell Disease

Ben Boulden

Sept. 15, 2017 | People with sickle cell disease, their families, health care professionals and the public are invited to the 2017 annual Sickle Cell Symposium at 6 p.m. Oct. 19 at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). The symposium is free for the general public, and $20 for health care providers who…



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