Regina Hartfield is Now the CEO and President of SCDAA

The Sickle Cell Disease Association of America (SCDAA) has a new president and CEO. After serving on the association's board of directors for 3 years, and as the chair of the fundraising committee, Regina Hartfield assumed the position on January 14, 2022.

In an interview with HCPLive®, Hartfield shared her priorities for 2022 as the new leader of the association.

One of the first priorities is to increase the amount of member organizations in partnership with SCDAA across the US. Currently, SCDAA partners with 53 organizations that span 29 states, collectively serving over 500,000 individuals with sickle cell disease (SCD).

Another pritority that Hartfield was excited to share was a clinical trial finder that SCDAA first launched in October 2021. The goal is to continue to grow number of people who have access to it and in turn, increase the amount of people participating in clinical trials.

Finding clinical trials can be extremely difficult for people with sickle cell disease. Before SCDAA offered this clinical trial finder in a consolidated location, many people had to search through different locations or resources without a guarantee that anything would come up.

"It's a sense of empowerment," Hartfield said. "You know, people with sickle cell disease, or their caregivers, can go on to the clinical trial finder, find out what clinical trials are out there that they're appropriate for in terms of the logistics and health situations."

Hartfield touched on the importance of education for those within the sickle cell disease community and the health care community.

"It is very, very important for everyone in the sickle cell space to understand what those living with sickle cell disease are going through, what their needs are in terms of care, medication, timing of care, access," she said.

After discussing recent legislative accomplishments and the expansion of SCDAA's global partnerships, Hartfield concluded the interview by expressing her gratitude.

"Every time I meet someone living with sickle cell disease, I am humbled and in awe of who they are, and what they do, and their contributions," she said. "They are unstoppable."

"We want to be equally as unstoppable as they are."