Department of Medicine

For Kristina Slunecka, it was the woman locked down in her assisted-living facility room, unable to leave the confines of her four walls even to go outside because of COVID-19. For Desirae Martinez, it was the elderly man beginning their first call with, “I don’t have much to say,” and still chatting with his newfound friend an hour later.

In Colorado, the state legislature created The Sickle Cell Research and Treatment Center in the early 1970s as part of the CU School of Medicine. With an emphasis on research and education, the purpose of the Center is to “help to assure that persons living with sickle cell disease across the lifespan have the specialty services that they need [and] to be champions in the systems where sickle cell patients receive care,” says Director Kathryn Hassell.