Meet our Masterclass Expert Speakers
Dr. Edward Donnell Ivy, MD, MPH
Moderator, Seminar One - The Current State of Sickle Cell Disease Treatments: Pipelines or Pipe Dreams?
Dr. Ivy uses his personal and professional experiences to improve care for individuals with health conditions, including sickle cell disease, by working collaboratively to strengthen the public health infrastructure. Dr. Ivy serves as the Chief Medical Officer for the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America (SCDAA). Prior to joining SCDAA, Dr. Ivy worked with the Maternal and Child Health Bureau of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) as the Program Director of the Hemoglobinopathies Program, which included the Sickle Cell Disease Treatment Demonstration Program, the Sickle Cell Disease Newborn Screening Program and the Thalassemia Program. Dr. Ivy worked at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health where he was part of the team that developed the NHLBI Sickle Cell Disease Treatment Recommendations of 2014. Dr. Ivy completed his medical school training at East Carolina University School of Medicine. After starting a residency in pediatrics, Dr. Ivy realized his interest in public health and attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health where he received his master’s in public health with honors.
Lakiea Bailey, Ph.D.
Speaker, Seminar One - The Current State of Sickle Cell Disease Treatments: Pipelines or Pipe Dreams?
Dr. Lakiea Bailey is a sickle cell disease advocate, educator and research scientist. Diagnosed with sickle cell disease at age three, she has become a passionate advocate for those living with rare diseases.
Dr. Bailey earned a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and molecular biology and a doctorate degree in molecular hematology and regenerative medicine. At the completion of her doctorate training, she founded and began working as the executive director of the Sickle Cell Community Consortium, a coordinated network of sickle cell community-based organizations (CBOs), patient and caregiver advocates, community partners and health care/research advisors. sickle cell awareness. Her goal is to provide a platform to harness and amplify the power of the patient voice, ensuring that the sickle cell patient and caregiver takes a leadership role in research, policy, advocacy, legislation and education.
She was one of the founding board of directors for the Family Advocacy Coalition for the Empowerment of the Sickle Cell Disease Community (FACE of SCD) and the founding vice president of Sickle Cell Warriors, Inc., serving as science advisor for both.
Dr. Crawford Strunk
Speaker, Seminar One - The Current State of Sickle Cell Disease Treatments: Pipelines or Pipe Dreams?
Dr. Crawford Strunk is a pediatric hematologist with experience and expertise in lifespan sickle cell care and vice chief medical officer for SCDAA. Dr. Strunk graduated from Colby College with a degree in classics and music. After earning his medical doctorate at the State University of New York Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, he completed his pediatric residency at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pennsylvania and his fellowship in pediatric hematology/oncology at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. He was on the staff at Toledo Children's Hospital and served as the director of the Pediatric Sickle Cell Center since 2006 and the co-director of the adult sickle cell center from 2018 until 2023. He started as a staff physician at the Cleveland Clinic as co-director of the Lifespan Sickle Cell Program starting in 2023. He has been active in SCDAA since joining the Medical and Research Advisory Council in 2018.
Dr. John Tisdale
Speaker, Seminar One - The Current State of Sickle Cell Disease Treatments: Pipelines or Pipe Dreams?
Dr. John Tisdale is a senior investigator in cellular and molecular therapeutics branch at the National Institutes of Health’s NHLBI. He is working on multiple strategies in the laboratory and the clinic to cure sickle cell disease by repairing or replacing the precursor bone marrow cells that give rise to sickled red blood cells.
Dr. Tisdale earned his M.D. from the Medical University of South Carolina. He did his internship and residency at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and was chief resident at the Nashville Veterans Administration Medical Center. He joined the NHLBI in 1994, where he has been a hematology fellow, senior staff fellow and clinical investigator. He joined the Molecular and Clinical Hematology Branch of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases in 1998 as a tenure track investigator and was tenured in 2007. In 2011, the College of Charleston recognized Dr. Tisdale with the Alumni of the Year Award and the Pre-Medical Society’s Outstanding Service Award in Medicine. He was recently elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation and is a member of the American Society of Hematology. Dr. Tisdale has authored or coauthored more than 140 papers.