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Charles F. Whitten, MD was the Co-Founder and President Emeritus of Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, Inc. His dedication and commitment to the Association and to those with sickle cell disease will be forever respected and cherished.<\/p>\n
As a Pediatric Hematologist, Whitten was among the first to develop and insist on newborn screening for sickle cell disease, which is not performed worldwide. In 1974, he formed the Sickle Cell Detection and Information Center in Detroit, MI, the most comprehensive community program in the country. He also created color-coded “Whitten Dice” to educate couples about the genetic risk of having children with sickle cell disease.<\/p>\n
The vision for a national coordinated approach to addressing issues related to sickle cell disease was unveiled in 1971 when representatives\u00a0of 15\u00a0community sickle cell organizations met at \u201cWingspread,\u201d a Racine, Wisconsin conference center, as guest of the Johnson Foundation. Out of that meeting, the National Association for Sickle Cell Disease was created. The name was changed to Sickle Cell Disease Association of\u00a0America, Inc. in 1994.
\nThe Strategies defined at the \u201cWingspread\u201d meeting laid the foundation for today\u2019s Association.<\/p>\n
Through the years the Association has provided effective leadership in positioning sickle cell disease and its related problems as a major public health care concern and, indeed a universal problem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Charles F. Whitten, MD was the Co-Founder and President Emeritus of Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, Inc. His dedication and commitment to the Association and to those with sickle cell disease will be forever respected and cherished. As a Pediatric Hematologist, Whitten was among the first to develop and insist on newborn screening for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1730,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-932","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n