Augusta, Ga. - The Medical College of Georgia is leading an initiative that could result in a paradigm shift in the care of patients with sickle cell disease.
Morehouse University School of Medicine and University of Florida are partners in the initiative that is enlisting primary care physicians across Georgia to serve as "medical homes" for patients, changing how patients are treated when a pain crisis sends them to the hospital and seeking better prevention and treatment strategies for the pain and organ damage caused by the genetic disease affecting 1 in 500 blacks in the United States.
"This is an exciting opportunity to really take on sickle cell disease from many angles: from ensuring that patients get regular medical care to improving hospital care to dissecting why patients respond to pain and analgesics differently," said Dr. Abdullah Kutlar, director of the MCG Sickle Cell Center.
Drs. Kutlar and Robert W. Gibson, an occupational therapist and medical anthropologist at MCG, are co-principal investigators for the $7 million, five-year grant from the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health to support the multifaceted strategy they believe will make a big difference in the lives of patients.
Major projects include: