Yvonne Dei-Adomakoh

I have a fellowship in Laboratory Medicine(Haematology) from the West African College Of Physicians. My work as a hematologist involves both clinical and laboratory work. I care for patients with hematological malignancies such as leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma as well as hematological diseases such as sickle cell anemia (SCA) and other hemolytic anemias. SCA is a chronic debilitating disease with over 24,000 registered patients in Ghana. I attend to over 50 patients weekly and have managed patients with SCA for over 15 years. Despite the high prevalence of SCA in sub-Saharan Africa, relatively little research has been conducted in this region. In addition, life expectancy of patients with SCA has been greatly extended in industrialized countries, in part as a result of improved medical management. However management of SCA and development of comprehensive life-course care has lagged behind in Africa. There are important new developments in SCA, and these need to be pursued in Africa. It is important to recognize, however, that it is necessary to modify the clinical management of SCA in Africa. In preparation for this application, I completed a month long intensive at Vanderbilt Institute in Research Development and Ethics (VIRDE) program that focused on grant writing, research and presentation skills.