Summary
In 1910, Dr. James B. Herrick published Western medical literature’s first description of a person with sickle cell disease. Soon, other physicians reported patients with similar symptoms and confirmed the characteristic feature of the disease: elongated red blood cells. In 1922, the peculiar shape of the cells inspired the official name for the disorder. Within 30 years, scientists had learned about the cause of sickle cell disease—an abnormal form of hemoglobin. Sickle Cell Disease, Second Edition explores the scientific discoveries that led to an understanding of the genetic basis of the disease, explaining how a single mutation in hemoglobin multiplies into the many symptoms of sickle cell disease. Also investigated are treatments that help individuals manage sickle cell disease symptoms, and how gene therapy and stem cell therapy may one day lead to a cure for the disease.
About the Author(s)
Phill Jones earned a Ph.D. in physiology/pharmacology from the University of California, San Diego. After completing postdoctoral training at Stanford University School of Medicine, he joined the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Kentucky Medical Center as an assistant professor, where he taught topics in molecular biology and medicine and researched aspects of gene expression. He later earned a JD at the University of Kentucky College of Law and worked ten years as a patent attorney, specializing in biological, chemical, and medical inventions. Dr. Jones is now a full-time writer.
Alan I. Hecht, D.C., is a practicing chiropractor in New York. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Biology at Farmingdale State College, the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University, and Adjunct Professor of Allied Health Sciences at Nassau Community College. He teaches courses in medical microbiology, anatomy and physiology, comparative anatomy, human physiology, human nutrition, and embryology. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Biology at Hofstra University where he teaches medical microbiology at the Hofstra Northwell School of Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies and is the course coordinator for Graduate Anatomy and Physiology for Medical Physics at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell.
His current research interest is natural antibacterial substances effective against Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus mutans. Dr. Hecht received his BS in biology–pre-medical studies from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, New Jersey. He received his MS in Basic Medical Sciences from New York University School of Medicine. He also received his Doctor of Chiropractic degree from New York Chiropractic College in Brookville, New York. Dr. Hecht was the recipient of the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Adjunct Teaching from the State University of New York.