Nemours Children’s Health researchers receive a grant to boost sickle cell disease research.
The five-year, $5.32 million grant from the National Institutes of Health follows two previous grants for Nemours focused on sickle cell disease.
A $10.2 million grant in 2014 and a second grant in 2021 for $10.5 million helped launch the Delaware Comprehensive Sickle Cell Research Center.
The latest grant will initiate phase 3 of the work, sustaining support for Nemours researchers and continuing to support innovative projects including up to eight one-year pilot projects.
"We now have a grant in Delaware, to boost our capacity to do sickle cell research, which means we can invest both in people and in projects so that in the future we will be more proficient at delivering high-quality care based on the research that we are doing with this grant," said Dr. David Brousseau, director of research of Nemours Children’s Hospital in Delaware.
Sickle cell disease is an inherited blood disorder that affects about 100,000 people in the country with more than 90% being non-Hispanic Black or African American with an estimated 3% to 9% are Hispanic or Latino.
"These are people who are frequently not involved in research, have difficulty accessing care. There are many studies that funding for sickle cell disease has lagged behind federal funding for other like diseases that affect non-black or African American populations," said Brousseau.
According to Nemours, the estimated life expectancy of people with sickle cell disease in the US is more than 20 years shorter than the average.
