Robert Brodsky, professor and director of the Division of Hematology, spoke at a roundtable discussion hosted by Senator Cory Booker to discuss a bill that would give money to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to give out grants to track sickle cell disease patients and assess how far they are from treatment centers. Sickle cell disease research has been greatly underfunded in comparison to other diseases despite it affecting an estimated 100,000 Americans. This would be an important first step in gaining insight into the number of patients and resources necessary to get them the treatment they need. The bill would also provide money for Health Resource and Service Administration (HRSA) grants focused on health and treatment.
Rob, who serves as secretary of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), represented the ASH to advocate for this legislation and spoke along with two patients with sickle cell disease, a parent of a patient and Dr. Biree Andemarian, chief medical officer from the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America.
To see a livestream of the event posted on Senator Booker's Facebook page, click here.
