In 1904, a 20-year-old dental student from Grenada named Walter Clement Noel entered a Chicago hospital with severe anemia and leg ulcers. An analysis of Noel’s blood revealed distinctive “sickle-shaped and crescent-shaped” red blood cells, prompting one of his physicians to publish the first medical report of sickle cell disease (SCD) (bit.ly/3rCWP4q).
More than a century later, researchers have made great strides in illuminating the genetic underpinnings of