St. Jude Sickle Cell patient Elani with her mom

St. Jude Sickle Cell patient Elani with 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 pediatric 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. Over the course of his career, Diggs was critical in the research and dissemination of knowledge about sickle cell disease, and played an instrumental role in helping Danny Thomas as he envisioned St. Jude as a research hospital.   

 
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, joins the staff at St. Jude and helps establish the sickle cell program.

Watch Dr. Rudolph Jackson's video   watch

 
 

1977

St. Jude begins participating in  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 kind of discovery occurs because St. Jude is committed to studying multiple pediatric diseases.

Read Kimberlin's Story

 
 

2003

BABYHUG, a landmark multi-center study led by St. Jude researcher Dr. Winfred Wang, begins enrolling patients with a goal of evaluating the safety and efficacy of a promising drug, hydroxyurea, in very young children with sickle cell disease. In 2011, the published results showed that hydroxyurea is safe in infants as young as 9 months old and offers significant benefits, including a substantial decrease in pain and hospitalizations.  

 
 

  

2016

A Methodist Sickle Cell Disease Transition Clinic is created in collaboration with the Methodist Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center to help 18-year-olds make the leap from St. Jude to adult-care facilities of their choice. The transition clinic has continued to grow and now includes participation from the Diggs-Kraus Sickle Cell Center.

 

 
 

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. Today, with early diagnosis and appropriate treatments, the life expectancy of children with sickle cell disease has increased.

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

2022

Uniting researchers from across the country

 

St. Jude recommits funding to Collaborative Research Consortium for Sickle Cell Disease. 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 genetic approaches to treat 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  is enhancing our bone marrow transplantation program to further improve outcomes for children with sickle cell disease. The program has ongoing efforts and clinical trials aimed at reducing the transplant-associated side effects. Additionally, clinicians and investigators are working on using half matched donors (such as parents and siblings who are not a full match) to do transplants for individuals with sickle cell disease, making this treatment option available to many more patients.
  • Most patients will not have a matched donor for bone marrow transplantation; therefore,  St. Jude also continues to research alternate approaches to treat or cure sickle cell disease. Because sickle cell disease is caused by a single genetic mutation, it is an attractive target for gene editing. St. Jude has developed a gene editing program to develop safe and effective therapies for individuals with SCD and expects to begin enrolling patients on a new clinical trial evaluating a gene editing approach that was developed by St. Jude investigators. Working with collaborators, St Jude also participates in clinical trials of other gene therapies for SCD aimed at evaluating the safety and efficacy of these promising new treatments in pediatric populations.  
  • 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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