THE SC RED TEAM

Founders

Teonna Woolford

Chief Executive Officer

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Kim Smith-Whitley, M.D

Chief Medical Officer

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Lydia Pecker, M.D

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meet the members

Staff

Director of Community Engagement

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Alexis Lott

Director of Marketing

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Ben Johnson

Media Producer

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Our Board

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Advisory Committee

Deandrea Gadsen

Camille Hammond, MD

Eloise Whitten

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Medical Advisors

Andrew Campbell, M.D

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Wanda Whitten- Shurney, M.D

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Maya Bloomberg, MSN, APRN

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Neha Bhasin, MD

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Shameka Poetry Thomas, PhD

Patrick Charles Hines, MD/PhD

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Jason Payne, MD, MSPH

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Kamaria C. Cayton Vaught, M.D

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Deva Sharma, MD

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Maayan Leroy-Melamed, MD

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Brittanni N. Wright, PhD, MDiv, MPH

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Mariah Jacqueline Scott, MS, MPH

meet the members

Warrior/Caregiver Steering Committee

Agnes Nsofwa

Amondre Smith

April Green

Cortney Sanders

D’asia Jackson

Debra Capers

DeMitrious Wyant

Elodie Ontala

Malika Shaw

Nia Sumpter

Nortoria Jones

Sherrell Johnson

Tabatha Marmon

Tammy Sherrod

Tristan Lee

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About Us

Sickle Cell Reproductive Health Education Directive (SC RED) advocates for high quality sexual and reproductive health care for individuals living with all types of sickle cell disease

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Teonna Woolford

Co-Founder + Chief Executive Officer

Teonna Woolford was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. Since birth, she has overcome many battles in her fight against Sickle Cell Anemia. A true warrior at heart, Teonna has recovered from numerous challenges including, but not limited to, excruciating pain crises, bilateral hip replacements, and a failed bone marrow transplant that resulted in the side effect she feared most, infertility.

When searching for both educational and financial resources for fertility preservation, Teonna was taken aback by the lack of information related to women with Sickle Cell. For far too long, the Sickle Cell Community has faced tremendous disparities and have had to prioritize survival over quality of life, allowing other areas of importance, such as reproductive health, to be overlooked. To combat this, Teonna, alongside two physicians devoted to the cause; John Hopkin’s Dr. Lydia Pecker and CHOP’s Dr. Kim Smith-Whitley, founded the non-profit organization Sickle Cell Reproductive Health Education Directive (SC RED). SC RED is a collective of Sickle Cell warriors, providers, caregivers, and other key thought leaders advocating for high-quality sexual and reproductive care through awareness, education, advocacy, and various levels of support.

With an intimate understanding of the realities of those impacted by Sickle Cell Disease, Teonna has served on several working groups for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). Teonna has also published with the American Society of Hematology (ASH). She has been successful carrying her mission and message to schools, churches, and The White House; bringing her face-to-face with former First Lady, Michelle Obama, Dr. Ben Carson, and the late civil rights activist and humanitarian, Congressman John Lewis. In October 2021, Teonna made history as the first patient to give the Charles F. Whitten Memorial Lecture alongside her mentor, Dr. Kim Smith-Whitley.

While Sickle Cell has been a large part of Teonna’s life, she does her best not to let it define who she is. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, writing, cooking (therefore eating), shopping, watching movies, keeping up with current events, and most of all, spending time with her family. She has always been active in her church and seeks to put God first in her life. Like many in the Sickle Cell community, Teonna is determined to not only live but to thrive.

Patrick Charles Hines, MD/PhD

Dr. Hines has spent over 20 years investigating the mechanisms regulating microvascular blood flow in sickle cell disease, including sickle erythrocyte adhesion, leukocyte rolling, and platelet function. He has authored numerous publications in this field and was among the first to describe the ability of soluble stress mediators to rapidly increase adhesive properties of sickle erythrocytes, advancing our understanding of how stress induces microvascular blood flow changes in individuals with sickle cell disease. He is internationally recognized for his efforts to develop and validate a gold standard for the assessment of red blood cell health in clinical practice, work that grew out of patient care challenges he experienced as a pediatric intensivist.

In 2014, Dr. Hines founded Functional Fluidics, a biotech company developing red blood cell health diagnostic platforms that are currently being used by some of largest medical centers in the U.S. and the majority of pharmaceutical companies developing red blood cell-modifying therapies. Functional Fluidics has validated the first blood-based biomarkers shown to predict vaso-occlusive crises in sickle cell disease, and can be used to monitor patient response to red blood cell modifying therapies. Dr. Hines and his team are using red blood cell function biomarkers to identify early changes in red blood cell health, helping healthcare providers to intervene earlier, and focus on health maintenance rather than crises management. He is also leading an effort to validate the role of red blood cell function in congenital heart disease, diabetic vasculopathy, and aerobic capacity in high performance athletes, and has received NIH support to better understand the importance of RBC health for patients on ECMO and ventricular assist devices, validate predictive biomarkers of preterm birth and low birth weight, and assess storage lesions in blood banked RBCs. Most recently, his team has started to explore the relationship of red blood cell health to long haul COVID-19 affecting millions of individuals around the world. In recognition of his work, Dr. Hines was selected as an Aspen Health Innovation Fellow within the Aspen Global Leadership Network, chosen as a Crain’s Healthcare Hero, and received the Crain’s Detroit Business 40 Under 40 award, an honor rarely given to physician leaders. He completed both his fellowship in critical care medicine and pediatrics residency at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He received his M.D. degree and Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Hampton University.

THE SC RED TEAM

Teonna Woolford

Co-Founder + Chief Executive Officer

Kim Smith-Whitley, M.D

Co-Founder + Chief Medical Officer

Lydia Pecker, M.D

Co-Founder + Vice Chief Medical Officer

Sacha Choupa

Mahal Alvarez-Backus

Intern

D’Asia Jackson

social media manager

DeMitrious Wyant

Director of Community Engagement

Alexis Lott

Director of Marketing

Ojong Bate, PharmD

Chair

Natasha Thomas

Treasurer

Tressa Gamache

Secretary

Nick Hudson

Board Chair

Maurice Garland, MBA

Board Chair

Shayla Brooks

Treasurer

Phillip Sanders

Jeron Hill

Board Member

Daniel Sop, PhD

Board Member

Camille Hammond

Andrew Campbell, M.D

Wanda Whitten- Shurney, M.D

Maya Bloomberg, MSN, APRN

Neha Bhasin, MD

Shameka Poetry Thomas, PhD

Preetha Nandi, MD

Bria Carrithers, MD

Patrick Charles Hines, MD/PhD

Jason Payne, MD, MSPH

Kamaria C. Cayton Vaught, M.D

Deva Sharma

Maayan Leroy-Melamed, MD

Brittanni N. Wright, PhD, MDiv, MPH

Mariah Jacqueline Scott, MS, MPH

Carla Coffer, RN

Dr. Andrea Roe, MD, MPH