Sickle cell patient Elani is embraced by her mother.

St. Jude sickle cell patient Elani and her mom

 

Sickle cell discoveries timeline

The first grant St. Jude Children's Research Hospital received, before the hospital even opened, was for research of sickle cell disease. Today, St. Jude is a national leader in the research and treatment of sickle cell disease, and it has one of the largest sickle cell disease programs in the country.

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The path to a cure

More than sixty years ago, entertainer Danny Thomas envisioned a hospital that would treat children regardless of race, color, creed or their family's ability to pay. A facility where research would shine light into the darkness.

 
 

1958

St. Jude presents Lemuel Diggs, MD, with a $10,000 grant for his work on sickle cell disease. Diggs subsequently publishes the first comprehensive study of sickle cell disease and its impact on the African-American population.

 
Black and white photo of Dr. Lemuel Diggs and two other men from the 60s.
 
 

February 4, 1962

The hospital opens in Memphis, Tennessee

St. Jude opens during a turbulent era in American history. The star-shaped building designed by renowned African-American architect Paul Revere Williams immediately becomes the region's first fully integrated children's hospital. 

Since it opened, families have never received a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food — so they can focus on helping their child live.

 
 
Dr. Rudolph Jackson using a microscope at St. Jude in the 1960s across the table from another doctor.
 

1968

African-American physician Rudolph Jackson, MD, helps establish the sickle cell program at St. Jude.

Watch Dr. Rudolph Jackson's video   watch

 
 

1977

St. Jude launches the first major effort to understand the lifelong progression of sickle cell disease.

 
A St. Jude nurse weighs a St. Jude patient in 1970.
 
 
Former patient Kimberlin holding a framed black and white photo of herself as a teenage patient at St. Jude.

Former St. Jude patient Kimberlin Wilson-George in 2015

 

1983

A St. Jude cancer patient with both sickle cell disease and cancer undergoes a bone marrow transplant to target her cancer.

However, the procedure also cures her sickle cell disease, and she becomes the first person in the world cured of sickle cell disease through a bone marrow transplant.  That discovery occurs because St. Jude is committed to studying multiple pediatric diseases.

Read Kimberlin's Story

 
 

2003

The St. Jude sickle cell program is named one of 10 Comprehensive Sickle Cell Centers by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

 
 

2015

'We must do what others cannot do.'

St. Jude President and CEO James Downing, MD, unveils a bold plan for saving the lives of children around the globe — extending clinical research for sickle cell beyond symptom management to cures. 

 

  

2016

A Sickle Cell Disease Transition Clinic is created to help 18-year-olds make the leap from St. Jude to adult-care facilities of their choice.

 
 

2018

St. Jude is the first healthcare organization to receive the Legacy Grant from The Links Foundation, Inc., to support the advancement of sickle cell disease research. In the past, 50% of sickle cell patients did not live beyond the age of 20, and most did not survive to age 50. Today, with early diagnosis and use of recently developed treatments, the life expectancy of children with sickle cell disease has nearly doubled.

 
St. Jude supporter Glenda Newell Harris examines the St. Jude ABC Wall.
 
 

2022

Uniting researchers from across the country

 

St. Jude recommits funding to The Novel Gene Therapies for Sickle Cell Disease research collaborative. In an effort to develop novel cures and approaches for treating sickle cell disease, this research collaborative was organized by Dr. Mitch Weiss. Uniting researchers  from across the country in an array of specialties, this work aims to push forward the progress toward effective, sustainable treatment or cure for the disease. The research consortium is examining the genetic basis of sickle cell disease and working to accelerate the therapeutic pipeline.

 
 
 

Today

Our legacy of researching cures for sickle cell disease continues.

  • St. Jude leads the Sickle Cell Clinical Research and Intervention Program (SCCRIP), which studies how sickle cell disease progresses over time, from childhood into adulthood, and how we can improve the quality of life for sickle cell disease patients while we continue to search for cures.
  • Although a bone marrow transplant is a potential “cure” for sickle cell disease, it is not an easy cure, and it has many complications. That is why St. Jude continues to research alternate approaches to cure sickle cell disease.
  • St. Jude faculty perform innovative laboratory research on sickle cell disease and other blood disorders. In these labs, St. Jude not only conducts basic research, but also uses translational research to bridge the gap from the lab to the bedside.
 
 

Help the legacy continue — so families can focus on helping their child live.

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