Melody T. McCloud, M.D.

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 about sickle cell disease (SCD). As noted, life expectancy of patients with SCD now approximates 50 years of age, compared to 10 years of age in the 1970s. This major improvement in outcomes didn't spontaneously happen via genetic mutation or evolution.

It should be known in wider circles that such an improvement in patient outcomes and life expectancy of patients with SCD is primarily due to the yeoman, trailblazing work of 

, a Black female pediatrician who practiced in New York City. I was happy and honored to have had her as my pediatrician when I was  a little girl. I used to love to go to her office, smell the rubbing alcohol waft through the air and know that "she helped people feel better." She was instrumental in my becoming a physician.

 was the third Black female to graduate Yale School of Medicine (1952). She later became Chief of Pediatrics at Knickerbocker Hospital (which previously refused to admit or treat Black patients). She served in that capacity at other hospitals, including Mount Sinai St. Luke's Hospital in NYC, where in 1958, she became the first Black attending physician.

Wethers opened SCD programs at every hospital in which she practiced and was recognized among her peers and by legislative bodies. Her efforts led to New York being the first state to mandate testing for all children.

, Wethers was "renowned for research and advocacy that helped lead to mandatory testing of all newborns for sickle cell anemia."

Because SCD can be found not only in Blacks, in 1987 Dr. Wethers chaired a panel of the 

; "it recommended routine screening of all babies, regardless of race or ethnicity." As a result of Wethers' work, since 2006, 

I wish to recognize the exemplar work of my former pediatrician, Dr. Doris Wethers.

Founder & Medical Director, Atlanta Women's Health Care

Articles

Life expectancy of patients with SCD now approximates 50 years of age, compared to 10 years of age in the 1970s. This major improvement in outcomes didn't spontaneously happen.

Author | Melody T. McCloud, M.D.

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