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David Walcott: The History of SCD Scientific Progress and Patient Advocacy
David Walcott/LinkedIn
Sep 8, 2026, 15:20

David Walcott: The History of SCD Scientific Progress and Patient Advocacy

David Walcott, Co-Managing Partner at Novamed Ventures, shared Wellcome Trust‘s post on LinkedIn:

“The history of sickle cell disease is not only a story of scientific progress. It is also a story of patients, families and advocates fighting to make a neglected disease impossible to ignore.

What’s striking is how recently basic standards of care had to be fought for. Pain was too often dismissed, access to treatments such as blood transfusions was not assured, and communities affected by sickle cell disease—particularly those of African and Caribbean heritage—had to advocate persistently for better recognition and care.

Preserving this history matters because healthcare progress is rarely driven by science alone. Patient advocacy can change research priorities, clinical practice, funding and ultimately the way health systems respond to diseases that have historically received insufficient attention.

Today, sickle cell care is entering an extraordinary new era, including advances in curative therapies such as gene editing. But innovation and equity must move together.

The real measure of progress will be ensuring that the communities that carried the burden of this disease for generations can also benefit from the breakthroughs now transforming its future.”

Wellcome Trust shared a post on LinkedIn:

“Laurel Brumant-Palmer picks up a photograph she’s never seen before. In it, she’s 18, in a hospital bed, receiving a blood transfusion.

‘We fought for blood transfusions, and it’s amazing when I see this picture, because it was one of the reasons why I had a life.’

The photograph is one of over 300 items in the Sickle Cell Society archive – newsletters, pamphlets, films, personal records – now preserved and made accessible by Wellcome Collection. They acquired the collection in 2019 and spent two years cataloguing and safeguarding it, so a community’s record of care and advocacy could last.

Sickle cell disease is particularly common in people of African and Caribbean heritage. For decades, families, nurses and campaigners worked to improve understanding and push for better care, at a time when pain was routinely disbelieved.

Dame Elizabeth Anionwu, one of the Society’s founder members, leafed through the very first newsletter, printed in September 1980.

In 2026, the Sickle Cell Society and The Royal London Hospital brought material from the archive into a staff exhibition – history, put to work inside the place where care happens.

September is Sickle Cell Awareness Month. Read Laurel’s story and watch the film.”

Stay updated with Hemostasis Today.

Blood Blood Transfusion Dame Elizabeth Anionwu David Walcott Gene editing Health Hematology Hemostasis Hemostasis News Hemostasis Today Laurel Brumant-Palmer Medicine SCD Sickle Cell Awareness Sickle Cell Disease Sickle Cell Society The Royal London Hospital Wellcome Collection Wellcome Trust
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