I was diagnosed with sickle cell disease at six months of age as both my mother and my late father carried the sickle cell trait, resulting in my two older brothers being carriers and leaving me with the disease per the 1:2:1 genotypic ratio. Throughout my childhood, I was frequently hospitalized due to many vaso-occlusive crises among other complications. In 2013, I suffered from acute chest syndrome, landing me in Maria Fareri Children's Hospital, a member of WMCHealth located in Westchester County, NY, where I was hospitalized for about 12 weeks (about half of those being in a medically induced coma) with an initial survival rate of about 20%. After this episode and being discharged from WMC, I missed the rest of my third-grade school year. I continued to have VOCs and chest complications still, but thankfully in the summer of 2014, my family was introduced to a potential clinical treatment option. In the summer of 2014, after undergoing chemotherapy, I received a familial haploidentical (with my mother as my haplo donor) allogeneic stem cell transplant researched by Dr. Mitchell Cairo, MD (Principal Investigator of the protocol and Chief of the WMCHealth Department of Hematology, Oncology, and Stem Cell Transplantation). Essentially, this treatment saved my life and cured me of sickle cell disease. It's been nearly a decade since that transplant and since then I've had no SCD-related complications including, but not limited to, any VOCs. Now, I am a premedical student devoted to giving back and supporting SCD research initiatives the best way I can. After a youth filled with fundraising and advocacy for Dr. Cairo and his team, I now intern under his Hem/Onc/SCT Division at New York Medical College (academically affiliated with WMC), performing clinical research on the effects that the same stem cell transplant that I received can have on the fertility of survivors given the incorporation of chemotherapeutic drugs throughout it. In terms of volunteering, I've done several different fundraising and advocacy throughout my youth. For instance, I took part in Dribble for the Cure at St. John's University, which has raised more than $500,000 to support the work of Dr. Cairo and his team at Maria Fareri Children's Hospital of Westchester Medical Center. I've also spoke at Radiothons, on NBC News 4, Lohud (the Journal News), and People Magazine, telling my story and giving my support for all of the hard work done by medical scientists around the world (especially the ones who saved my life). Now in college, I currently volunteer for an organization called Next Step STRIVE. This consists of mentoring kids with sickle cell disease weekly, playing games and spending time with them in a welcoming environment. Currently, I am a rising sophomore at Harvard College on the pre-medicine track. I plan to use this education as a way to advocate for health disparities across the world, especially those that disproportionately affect marginalized groups. Roughly 98% of individuals who suffer from sickle cell disease are Black or African American, highlighting a drastic health disparity that affects my community. As a result, I wish to utilize my platform at college to pursue my ultimate goal of becoming a hematologist to help cure my community one sickle cell patient at a time.

I was diagnosed with sickle cell disease at six months of age as both my mother and my late father carried the sickle cell trait, resulting in my two older brothers being carriers and leaving me with the disease per the 1:2:1 genotypic ratio. Throughout my childhood, I was frequently hospitalized due to many vaso-occlusive crises among other complications. In 2013, I suffered from acute chest syndrome, landing me in Maria Fareri Children's Hospital, a member of WMCHealth located in Westchester County, NY, where I was hospitalized for about 12 weeks (about half of those being in a medically induced coma) with an initial survival rate of about 20%. After this episode and being discharged from WMC, I missed the rest of my third-grade school year. I continued to have VOCs and chest complications still, but thankfully in the summer of 2014, my family was introduced to a potential clinical treatment option. In the summer of 2014, after undergoing chemotherapy, I received a familial haploidentical (with my mother as my haplo donor) allogeneic stem cell transplant researched by Dr. Mitchell Cairo, MD (Principal Investigator of the protocol and Chief of the WMCHealth Department of Hematology, Oncology, and Stem Cell Transplantation). Essentially, this treatment saved my life and cured me of sickle cell disease. It's been nearly a decade since that transplant and since then I've had no SCD-related complications including, but not limited to, any VOCs. Now, I am a premedical student devoted to giving back and supporting SCD research initiatives the best way I can. After a youth filled with fundraising and advocacy for Dr. Cairo and his team, I now intern under his Hem/Onc/SCT Division at New York Medical College (academically affiliated with WMC), performing clinical research on the effects that the same stem cell transplant that I received can have on the fertility of survivors given the incorporation of chemotherapeutic drugs throughout it. In terms of volunteering, I've done several different fundraising and advocacy throughout my youth. For instance, I took part in Dribble for the Cure at St. John's University, which has raised more than $500,000 to support the work of Dr. Cairo and his team at Maria Fareri Children's Hospital of Westchester Medical Center. I've also spoke at Radiothons, on NBC News 4, Lohud (the Journal News), and People Magazine, telling my story and giving my support for all of the hard work done by medical scientists around the world (especially the ones who saved my life). Now in college, I currently volunteer for an organization called Next Step STRIVE. This consists of mentoring kids with sickle cell disease weekly, playing games and spending time with them in a welcoming environment. Currently, I am a rising sophomore at Harvard College planning to study Neurobiology with a secondary in Global Health and Health Policy. I plan to use this education as a way to advocate for health disparities across the world, especially those that disproportionately affect marginalized groups. Roughly 98% of individuals who suffer from sickle cell disease are Black or African American, highlighting a drastic health disparity that affects my community. As a result, I wish to utilize my platform at college to pursue my ultimate goal of becoming a hematologist to help cure my community one sickle cell patient at a time.

I was diagnosed with sickle cell disease at six months of age as both my mother and my late father carried the sickle cell trait, resulting in my two older brothers being carriers and leaving me with the disease per the 1:2:1 genotypic ratio. Throughout my childhood, I was frequently hospitalized due to many vaso-occlusive crises among other complications. In 2013, I suffered from acute chest syndrome, landing me in Maria Fareri Children's Hospital, a member of WMCHealth located in Westchester County, NY, where I was hospitalized for about 12 weeks (about half of those being in a medically induced coma) with an initial survival rate of about 20%. After this episode and being discharged from WMC, I missed the rest of my third-grade school year. I continued to have VOCs and chest complications still, but thankfully in the summer of 2014, my family was introduced to a potential clinical treatment option. In the summer of 2014, after undergoing chemotherapy, I received a familial haploidentical (with my mother as my haplo donor) allogeneic stem cell transplant researched by Dr. Mitchell Cairo, MD (Principal Investigator of the protocol and Chief of the WMCHealth Department of Hematology, Oncology, and Stem Cell Transplantation). Essentially, this treatment saved my life and cured me of sickle cell disease. It's been nearly a decade since that transplant and since then I've had no SCD-related complications including, but not limited to, any VOCs. Now, I am a premedical student devoted to giving back and supporting SCD research initiatives the best way I can. After a youth filled with fundraising and advocacy for Dr. Cairo and his team, I now intern under his Hem/Onc/SCT Division at New York Medical College (academically affiliated with WMC), performing clinical research on the effects that the same stem cell transplant that I received can have on the fertility of survivors given the incorporation of chemotherapeutic drugs throughout it. In terms of volunteering, I've done several different fundraising and advocacy throughout my youth. For instance, I took part in Dribble for the Cure at St. John's University, which has raised more than $500,000 to support the work of Dr. Cairo and his team at Maria Fareri Children's Hospital of Westchester Medical Center. I've also spoke at Radiothons, on NBC News 4, Lohud (the Journal News), and People Magazine, telling my story and giving my support for all of the hard work done by medical scientists around the world (especially the ones who saved my life). Now in college, I currently volunteer for an organization called Next Step STRIVE. This consists of mentoring kids with sickle cell disease weekly, playing games and spending time with them in a welcoming environment. Currently, I am a rising sophomore at Harvard College planning to study Neurobiology with a secondary in Global Health and Health Policy. I plan to use this education as a way to advocate for health disparities across the world, especially those that disproportionately affect marginalized groups. Roughly 98% of individuals who suffer from sickle cell disease are Black or African American, highlighting a drastic health disparity that affects my community. As a result, I wish to utilize my platform at college to pursue my ultimate goal of becoming a hematologist to help cure my community one sickle cell patient at a time.

I was diagnosed with sickle cell disease at six months of age as both my mother and my late father carried the sickle cell trait, resulting in my two older brothers being carriers and leaving me with the disease per the 1:2:1 genotypic ratio. Throughout my childhood, I was frequently hospitalized due to many vaso-occlusive crises among other complications. In 2013, I suffered from acute chest syndrome, landing me in Maria Fareri Children's Hospital, a member of WMCHealth located in Westchester County, NY, where I was hospitalized for about 12 weeks (about half of those being in a medically induced coma) with an initial survival rate of about 20%. After this episode and being discharged from WMC, I missed the rest of my third-grade school year. I continued to have VOCs and chest complications still, but thankfully in the summer of 2014, my family was introduced to a potential clinical treatment option. In the summer of 2014, after undergoing chemotherapy, I received a familial haploidentical (with my mother as my haplo donor) allogeneic stem cell transplant researched by Dr. Mitchell Cairo, MD (Principal Investigator of the protocol and Chief of the WMCHealth Department of Hematology, Oncology, and Stem Cell Transplantation). Essentially, this treatment saved my life and cured me of sickle cell disease. It's been nearly a decade since that transplant and since then I've had no SCD-related complications including, but not limited to, any VOCs. Now, I am a premedical student devoted to giving back and supporting SCD research initiatives the best way I can. After a youth filled with fundraising and advocacy for Dr. Cairo and his team, I now intern under his Hem/Onc/SCT Division at New York Medical College (academically affiliated with WMC), performing clinical research on the effects that the same stem cell transplant that I received can have on the fertility of survivors given the incorporation of chemotherapeutic drugs throughout it. In terms of volunteering, I've done several different fundraising and advocacy throughout my youth. For instance, I took part in Dribble for the Cure at St. John's University, which has raised more than $500,000 to support the work of Dr. Cairo and his team at Maria Fareri Children's Hospital of Westchester Medical Center. I've also spoke at Radiothons, on NBC News 4, Lohud (the Journal News), and People Magazine, telling my story and giving my support for all of the hard work done by medical scientists around the world (especially the ones who saved my life). Now in college, I currently volunteer for an organization called Next Step STRIVE. This consists of mentoring kids with sickle cell disease weekly, playing games and spending time with them in a welcoming environment. Currently, I am a rising sophomore at Harvard College planning to study Neurobiology with a secondary in Global Health and Health Policy. I plan to use this education as a way to advocate for health disparities across the world, especially those that disproportionately affect marginalized groups. Roughly 98% of individuals who suffer from sickle cell disease are Black or African American, highlighting a drastic health disparity that affects my community. As a result, I wish to utilize my platform at college to pursue my ultimate goal of becoming a hematologist to help cure my community one sickle cell patient at a time.

I was diagnosed with sickle cell disease at six months of age as both my mother and my late father carried the sickle cell trait, resulting in my two older brothers being carriers and leaving me with the disease per the 1:2:1 genotypic ratio. Throughout my childhood, I was frequently hospitalized due to many vaso-occlusive crises among other complications. In 2013, I suffered from acute chest syndrome, landing me in Maria Fareri Children's Hospital, a member of WMCHealth located in Westchester County, NY, where I was hospitalized for about 12 weeks (about half of those being in a medically induced coma) with an initial survival rate of about 20%. After this episode and being discharged from WMC, I missed the rest of my third-grade school year. I continued to have VOCs and chest complications still, but thankfully in the summer of 2014, my family was introduced to a potential clinical treatment option. In the summer of 2014, after undergoing chemotherapy, I received a familial haploidentical (with my mother as my haplo donor) allogeneic stem cell transplant researched by Dr. Mitchell Cairo, MD (Principal Investigator of the protocol and Chief of the WMCHealth Department of Hematology, Oncology, and Stem Cell Transplantation). Essentially, this treatment saved my life and cured me of sickle cell disease. It's been nearly a decade since that transplant and since then I've had no SCD-related complications including, but not limited to, any VOCs. Now, I am a premedical student devoted to giving back and supporting SCD research initiatives the best way I can. After a youth filled with fundraising and advocacy for Dr. Cairo and his team, I now intern under his Hem/Onc/SCT Division at New York Medical College (academically affiliated with WMC), performing clinical research on the effects that the same stem cell transplant that I received can have on the fertility of survivors given the incorporation of chemotherapeutic drugs throughout it. In terms of volunteering, I've done several different fundraising and advocacy throughout my youth. For instance, I took part in Dribble for the Cure at St. John's University, which has raised more than $500,000 to support the work of Dr. Cairo and his team at Maria Fareri Children's Hospital of Westchester Medical Center. I've also spoke at Radiothons, on NBC News 4, Lohud (the Journal News), and People Magazine, telling my story and giving my support for all of the hard work done by medical scientists around the world (especially the ones who saved my life). Now in college, I currently volunteer for an organization called Next Step STRIVE. This consists of mentoring kids with sickle cell disease weekly, playing games and spending time with them in a welcoming environment. Currently, I am a rising sophomore at Harvard College planning to study Neurobiology with a secondary in Global Health and Health Policy. I plan to use this education as a way to advocate for health disparities across the world, especially those that disproportionately affect marginalized groups. Roughly 98% of individuals who suffer from sickle cell disease are Black or African American, highlighting a drastic health disparity that affects my community. As a result, I wish to utilize my platform at college to pursue my ultimate goal of becoming a hematologist to help cure my community one sickle cell patient at a time.

I was diagnosed with sickle cell disease at six months of age as both my mother and my late father carried the sickle cell trait, resulting in my two older brothers being carriers and leaving me with the disease per the 1:2:1 genotypic ratio. Throughout my childhood, I was frequently hospitalized due to many vaso-occlusive crises among other complications. In 2013, I suffered from acute chest syndrome, landing me in Maria Fareri Children's Hospital, a member of WMCHealth located in Westchester County, NY, where I was hospitalized for about 12 weeks (about half of those being in a medically induced coma) with an initial survival rate of about 20%. After this episode and being discharged from WMC, I missed the rest of my third-grade school year. I continued to have VOCs and chest complications still, but thankfully in the summer of 2014, my family was introduced to a potential clinical treatment option. In the summer of 2014, after undergoing chemotherapy, I received a familial haploidentical (with my mother as my haplo donor) allogeneic stem cell transplant researched by Dr. Mitchell Cairo, MD (Principal Investigator of the protocol and Chief of the WMCHealth Department of Hematology, Oncology, and Stem Cell Transplantation). Essentially, this treatment saved my life and cured me of sickle cell disease. It's been nearly a decade since that transplant and since then I've had no SCD-related complications including, but not limited to, any VOCs. Now, I am a premedical student devoted to giving back and supporting SCD research initiatives the best way I can. After a youth filled with fundraising and advocacy for Dr. Cairo and his team, I now intern under his Hem/Onc/SCT Division at New York Medical College (academically affiliated with WMC), performing clinical research on the effects that the same stem cell transplant that I received can have on the fertility of survivors given the incorporation of chemotherapeutic drugs throughout it. In terms of volunteering, I've done several different fundraising and advocacy throughout my youth. For instance, I took part in Dribble for the Cure at St. John's University, which has raised more than $500,000 to support the work of Dr. Cairo and his team at Maria Fareri Children's Hospital of Westchester Medical Center. I've also spoke at Radiothons, on NBC News 4, Lohud (the Journal News), and People Magazine, telling my story and giving my support for all of the hard work done by medical scientists around the world (especially the ones who saved my life). Now in college, I currently volunteer for an organization called Next Step STRIVE. This consists of mentoring kids with sickle cell disease weekly, playing games and spending time with them in a welcoming environment. Currently, I am a rising sophomore at Harvard College planning to study Neurobiology with a secondary in Global Health and Health Policy. I plan to use this education as a way to advocate for health disparities across the world, especially those that disproportionately affect marginalized groups. Roughly 98% of individuals who suffer from sickle cell disease are Black or African American, highlighting a drastic health disparity that affects my community. As a result, I wish to utilize my platform at college to pursue my ultimate goal of becoming a hematologist to help cure my community one sickle cell patient at a time.

I was diagnosed with sickle cell disease at six months of age as both my mother and my late father carried the sickle cell trait, resulting in my two older brothers being carriers and leaving me with the disease per the 1:2:1 genotypic ratio. Throughout my childhood, I was frequently hospitalized due to many vaso-occlusive crises among other complications. In 2013, I suffered from acute chest syndrome, landing me in Maria Fareri Children's Hospital, a member of WMCHealth located in Westchester County, NY, where I was hospitalized for about 12 weeks (about half of those being in a medically induced coma) with an initial survival rate of about 20%. After this episode and being discharged from WMC, I missed the rest of my third-grade school year. I continued to have VOCs and chest complications still, but thankfully in the summer of 2014, my family was introduced to a potential clinical treatment option. In the summer of 2014, after undergoing chemotherapy, I received a familial haploidentical (with my mother as my haplo donor) allogeneic stem cell transplant researched by Dr. Mitchell Cairo, MD (Principal Investigator of the protocol and Chief of the WMCHealth Department of Hematology, Oncology, and Stem Cell Transplantation). Essentially, this treatment saved my life and cured me of sickle cell disease. It's been nearly a decade since that transplant and since then I've had no SCD-related complications including, but not limited to, any VOCs. Now, I am a premedical student devoted to giving back and supporting SCD research initiatives the best way I can. After a youth filled with fundraising and advocacy for Dr. Cairo and his team, I now intern under his Hem/Onc/SCT Division at New York Medical College (academically affiliated with WMC), performing clinical research on the effects that the same stem cell transplant that I received can have on the fertility of survivors given the incorporation of chemotherapeutic drugs throughout it. In terms of volunteering, I've done several different fundraising and advocacy throughout my youth. For instance, I took part in Dribble for the Cure at St. John's University, which has raised more than $500,000 to support the work of Dr. Cairo and his team at Maria Fareri Children's Hospital of Westchester Medical Center. I've also spoke at Radiothons, on NBC News 4, Lohud (the Journal News), and People Magazine, telling my story and giving my support for all of the hard work done by medical scientists around the world (especially the ones who saved my life). Now in college, I currently volunteer for an organization called Next Step STRIVE. This consists of mentoring kids with sickle cell disease weekly, playing games and spending time with them in a welcoming environment. Currently, I am a rising sophomore at Harvard College planning to study Neurobiology with a secondary in Global Health and Health Policy. I plan to use this education as a way to advocate for health disparities across the world, especially those that disproportionately affect marginalized groups. Roughly 98% of individuals who suffer from sickle cell disease are Black or African American, highlighting a drastic health disparity that affects my community. As a result, I wish to utilize my platform at college to pursue my ultimate goal of becoming a hematologist to help cure my community one sickle cell patient at a time.

I was diagnosed with sickle cell disease at six months of age as both my mother and my late father carried the sickle cell trait, resulting in my two older brothers being carriers and leaving me with the disease per the 1:2:1 genotypic ratio. Throughout my childhood, I was frequently hospitalized due to many vaso-occlusive crises among other complications. In 2013, I suffered from acute chest syndrome, landing me in Maria Fareri Children's Hospital, a member of WMCHealth located in Westchester County, NY, where I was hospitalized for about 12 weeks (about half of those being in a medically induced coma) with an initial survival rate of about 20%. After this episode and being discharged from WMC, I missed the rest of my third-grade school year. I continued to have VOCs and chest complications still, but thankfully in the summer of 2014, my family was introduced to a potential clinical treatment option. In the summer of 2014, after undergoing chemotherapy, I received a familial haploidentical (with my mother as my haplo donor) allogeneic stem cell transplant researched by Dr. Mitchell Cairo, MD (Principal Investigator of the protocol and Chief of the WMCHealth Department of Hematology, Oncology, and Stem Cell Transplantation). Essentially, this treatment saved my life and cured me of sickle cell disease. It's been nearly a decade since that transplant and since then I've had no SCD-related complications including, but not limited to, any VOCs. Now, I am a premedical student devoted to giving back and supporting SCD research initiatives the best way I can. After a youth filled with fundraising and advocacy for Dr. Cairo and his team, I now intern under his Hem/Onc/SCT Division at New York Medical College (academically affiliated with WMC), performing clinical research on the effects that the same stem cell transplant that I received can have on the fertility of survivors given the incorporation of chemotherapeutic drugs throughout it. In terms of volunteering, I've done several different fundraising and advocacy throughout my youth. For instance, I took part in Dribble for the Cure at St. John's University, which has raised more than $500,000 to support the work of Dr. Cairo and his team at Maria Fareri Children's Hospital of Westchester Medical Center. I've also spoke at Radiothons, on NBC News 4, Lohud (the Journal News), and People Magazine, telling my story and giving my support for all of the hard work done by medical scientists around the world (especially the ones who saved my life). Now in college, I currently volunteer for an organization called Next Step STRIVE. This consists of mentoring kids with sickle cell disease weekly, playing games and spending time with them in a welcoming environment. Currently, I am a rising sophomore at Harvard College planning to study Neurobiology with a secondary in Global Health and Health Policy. I plan to use this education as a way to advocate for health disparities across the world, especially those that disproportionately affect marginalized groups. Roughly 98% of individuals who suffer from sickle cell disease are Black or African American, highlighting a drastic health disparity that affects my community. As a result, I wish to utilize my platform at college to pursue my ultimate goal of becoming a hematologist to help cure my community one sickle cell patient at a time.

I was diagnosed with sickle cell disease at six months of age as both my mother and my late father carried the sickle cell trait, resulting in my two older brothers being carriers and leaving me with the disease per the 1:2:1 genotypic ratio. Throughout my childhood, I was frequently hospitalized due to many vaso-occlusive crises among other complications. In 2013, I suffered from acute chest syndrome, landing me in Maria Fareri Children's Hospital, a member of WMCHealth located in Westchester County, NY, where I was hospitalized for about 12 weeks (about half of those being in a medically induced coma) with an initial survival rate of about 20%. After this episode and being discharged from WMC, I missed the rest of my third-grade school year. I continued to have VOCs and chest complications still, but thankfully in the summer of 2014, my family was introduced to a potential clinical treatment option. In the summer of 2014, after undergoing chemotherapy, I received a familial haploidentical (with my mother as my haplo donor) allogeneic stem cell transplant researched by Dr. Mitchell Cairo, MD (Principal Investigator of the protocol and Chief of the WMCHealth Department of Hematology, Oncology, and Stem Cell Transplantation). Essentially, this treatment saved my life and cured me of sickle cell disease. It's been nearly a decade since that transplant and since then I've had no SCD-related complications including, but not limited to, any VOCs. Now, I am a premedical student devoted to giving back and supporting SCD research initiatives the best way I can. After a youth filled with fundraising and advocacy for Dr. Cairo and his team, I now intern under his Hem/Onc/SCT Division at New York Medical College (academically affiliated with WMC), performing clinical research on the effects that the same stem cell transplant that I received can have on the fertility of survivors given the incorporation of chemotherapeutic drugs throughout it. In terms of volunteering, I've done several different fundraising and advocacy throughout my youth. For instance, I took part in Dribble for the Cure at St. John's University, which has raised more than $500,000 to support the work of Dr. Cairo and his team at Maria Fareri Children's Hospital of Westchester Medical Center. I've also spoke at Radiothons, on NBC News 4, Lohud (the Journal News), and People Magazine, telling my story and giving my support for all of the hard work done by medical scientists around the world (especially the ones who saved my life). Now in college, I currently volunteer for an organization called Next Step STRIVE. This consists of mentoring kids with sickle cell disease weekly, playing games and spending time with them in a welcoming environment. Currently, I am a rising sophomore at Harvard College planning to study Neurobiology with a secondary in Global Health and Health Policy. I plan to use this education as a way to advocate for health disparities across the world, especially those that disproportionately affect marginalized groups. Roughly 98% of individuals who suffer from sickle cell disease are Black or African American, highlighting a drastic health disparity that affects my community. As a result, I wish to utilize my platform at college to pursue my ultimate goal of becoming a hematologist to help cure my community one sickle cell patient at a time.

I was diagnosed with sickle cell disease at six months of age as both my mother and my late father carried the sickle cell trait, resulting in my two older brothers being carriers and leaving me with the disease per the 1:2:1 genotypic ratio. Throughout my childhood, I was frequently hospitalized due to many vaso-occlusive crises among other complications. In 2013, I suffered from acute chest syndrome, landing me in Maria Fareri Children's Hospital, a member of WMCHealth located in Westchester County, NY, where I was hospitalized for about 12 weeks (about half of those being in a medically induced coma) with an initial survival rate of about 20%. After this episode and being discharged from WMC, I missed the rest of my third-grade school year. I continued to have VOCs and chest complications still, but thankfully in the summer of 2014, my family was introduced to a potential clinical treatment option. In the summer of 2014, after undergoing chemotherapy, I received a familial haploidentical (with my mother as my haplo donor) allogeneic stem cell transplant researched by Dr. Mitchell Cairo, MD (Principal Investigator of the protocol and Chief of the WMCHealth Department of Hematology, Oncology, and Stem Cell Transplantation). Essentially, this treatment saved my life and cured me of sickle cell disease. It's been nearly a decade since that transplant and since then I've had no SCD-related complications including, but not limited to, any VOCs. Now, I am a premedical student devoted to giving back and supporting SCD research initiatives the best way I can. After a youth filled with fundraising and advocacy for Dr. Cairo and his team, I now intern under his Hem/Onc/SCT Division at New York Medical College (academically affiliated with WMC), performing clinical research on the effects that the same stem cell transplant that I received can have on the fertility of survivors given the incorporation of chemotherapeutic drugs throughout it. In terms of volunteering, I've done several different fundraising and advocacy throughout my youth. For instance, I took part in Dribble for the Cure at St. John's University, which has raised more than $500,000 to support the work of Dr. Cairo and his team at Maria Fareri Children's Hospital of Westchester Medical Center. I've also spoke at Radiothons, on NBC News 4, Lohud (the Journal News), and People Magazine, telling my story and giving my support for all of the hard work done by medical scientists around the world (especially the ones who saved my life). Now in college, I currently volunteer for an organization called Next Step STRIVE. This consists of mentoring kids with sickle cell disease weekly, playing games and spending time with them in a welcoming environment. Currently, I am a rising sophomore at Harvard College planning to study Neurobiology with a secondary in Global Health and Health Policy. I plan to use this education as a way to advocate for health disparities across the world, especially those that disproportionately affect marginalized groups. Roughly 98% of individuals who suffer from sickle cell disease are Black or African American, highlighting a drastic health disparity that affects my community. As a result, I wish to utilize my platform at college to pursue my ultimate goal of becoming a hematologist to help cure my community one sickle cell patient at a time.

I was diagnosed with sickle cell disease at six months of age as both my mother and my late father carried the sickle cell trait, resulting in my two older brothers being carriers and leaving me with the disease per the 1:2:1 genotypic ratio. Throughout my childhood, I was frequently hospitalized due to many vaso-occlusive crises among other complications. In 2013, I suffered from acute chest syndrome, landing me in Maria Fareri Children's Hospital, a member of WMCHealth located in Westchester County, NY, where I was hospitalized for about 12 weeks (about half of those being in a medically induced coma) with an initial survival rate of about 20%. After this episode and being discharged from WMC, I missed the rest of my third-grade school year. I continued to have VOCs and chest complications still, but thankfully in the summer of 2014, my family was introduced to a potential clinical treatment option. In the summer of 2014, after undergoing chemotherapy, I received a familial haploidentical (with my mother as my haplo donor) allogeneic stem cell transplant researched by Dr. Mitchell Cairo, MD (Principal Investigator of the protocol and Chief of the WMCHealth Department of Hematology, Oncology, and Stem Cell Transplantation). Essentially, this treatment saved my life and cured me of sickle cell disease. It's been nearly a decade since that transplant and since then I've had no SCD-related complications including, but not limited to, any VOCs. Now, I am a premedical student devoted to giving back and supporting SCD research initiatives the best way I can. After a youth filled with fundraising and advocacy for Dr. Cairo and his team, I now intern under his Hem/Onc/SCT Division at New York Medical College (academically affiliated with WMC), performing clinical research on the effects that the same stem cell transplant that I received can have on the fertility of survivors given the incorporation of chemotherapeutic drugs throughout it. In terms of volunteering, I've done several different fundraising and advocacy throughout my youth. For instance, I took part in Dribble for the Cure at St. John's University, which has raised more than $500,000 to support the work of Dr. Cairo and his team at Maria Fareri Children's Hospital of Westchester Medical Center. I've also spoke at Radiothons, on NBC News 4, Lohud (the Journal News), and People Magazine, telling my story and giving my support for all of the hard work done by medical scientists around the world (especially the ones who saved my life). Now in college, I currently volunteer for an organization called Next Step STRIVE. This consists of mentoring kids with sickle cell disease weekly, playing games and spending time with them in a welcoming environment. Currently, I am a rising sophomore at Harvard College planning to study Neurobiology with a secondary in Global Health and Health Policy. I plan to use this education as a way to advocate for health disparities across the world, especially those that disproportionately affect marginalized groups. Roughly 98% of individuals who suffer from sickle cell disease are Black or African American, highlighting a drastic health disparity that affects my community. As a result, I wish to utilize my platform at college to pursue my ultimate goal of becoming a hematologist to help cure my community one sickle cell patient at a time.

I was diagnosed with sickle cell disease at six months of age as both my mother and my late father carried the sickle cell trait, resulting in my two older brothers being carriers and leaving me with the disease per the 1:2:1 genotypic ratio. Throughout my childhood, I was frequently hospitalized due to many vaso-occlusive crises among other complications. In 2013, I suffered from acute chest syndrome, landing me in Maria Fareri Children's Hospital, a member of WMCHealth located in Westchester County, NY, where I was hospitalized for about 12 weeks (about half of those being in a medically induced coma) with an initial survival rate of about 20%.  After this episode and being discharged from WMC, I missed the rest of my third-grade school year. I continued to have VOCs and chest complications still, but thankfully in the summer of 2014, my family was introduced to a potential clinical treatment option. In the summer of 2014, after undergoing chemotherapy, I received a familial haploidentical (with my mother as my haplo donor) allogeneic stem cell transplant researched by Dr. Mitchell Cairo, MD (Principal Investigator of the protocol and Chief of the WMCHealth Department of Hematology, Oncology, and Stem Cell Transplantation). Essentially, this treatment saved my life and cured me of sickle cell disease. It's been nearly a decade since that transplant and since then I've had no SCD-related complications including, but not limited to, any VOCs.  Now, I am a premedical student devoted to giving back and supporting SCD research initiatives the best way I can. After a youth filled with fundraising and advocacy for Dr. Cairo and his team, I now intern under his Hem/Onc/SCT Division at New York Medical College (academically affiliated with WMC), performing clinical research on the effects that the same stem cell transplant that I received can have on the fertility of survivors given the incorporation of chemotherapeutic drugs throughout it. In terms of volunteering, I've done several different fundraising and advocacy throughout my youth. For instance, I took part in Dribble for the Cure at St. John's University, which has raised more than $500,000 to support the work of Dr. Cairo and his team at Maria Fareri Children's Hospital of Westchester Medical Center. I've also spoke at Radiothons, on NBC News 4, Lohud (the Journal News), and People Magazine, telling my story and giving my support for all of the hard work done by medical scientists around the world (especially the ones who saved my life). Now in college, I currently volunteer for an organization called Next Step STRIVE. This consists of mentoring kids with sickle cell disease weekly, playing games and spending time with them in a welcoming environment. Currently, I am a rising sophomore at Harvard College planning to study Neurobiology with a secondary in Global Health and Health Policy. I plan to use this education as a way to advocate for health disparities across the world, especially those that disproportionately affect marginalized groups. Roughly 98% of individuals who suffer from sickle cell disease are Black or African American, highlighting a drastic health disparity that affects my community. As a result, I wish to utilize my platform at college to pursue my ultimate goal of becoming a hematologist to help cure my community one sickle cell patient at a time.

When I was just 6 months old, my parents learned that I had sickle cell disease—a group of inherited red blood cell disorders that can cause any number of complications, including difficulty breathing, kidney problems and recurring pain crises, to name a few. It impacted me in three main ways: socially, physically, and educationally as I grew up with two older brothers who I couldn’t play with outside when it was too hot or too cold; I had acute chest syndrome and was placed on a ventilator, and I almost died. I also had to miss school and was in the hospital for most of my third grade year and all of my fourth grade year. But that all changed in 2014 when I met Mitchell S. Cairo, M.D., a pediatric hematologist and oncologist, who gave me a new lot on life after undergoing a bone marrow transplant. My mom was my donor-I received chemotherapy, which eradicated my affected bone marrow with sickle cell anemia, then they placed my mom’s bone marrow inside of me through a stem cell transplant. Ever since then, I've been essentially cured, meaning that I hasn’t experienced any extended hospitalizations or pain crises in a decade. To give back to my community, I've done several different fundraising and advocacy throughout my youth. For instance, I took part in Dribble for the Cure at St. John's University, which has raised more than $500,000 to support the work of Dr. Cairo and his team at Maria Fareri Children's Hospital of Westchester Medical Center. I've also spoke at Radiothons, on NBC News 4, Lohud (the Journal News), and People Magazine, telling my story and giving my support for all of the hard work done by medical scientists around the world (especially the one who saved my life). For more hands-on work, I went back to the Westchester Medical Center throughout the summer leading to my senior year to conduct research in one of Dr. Cairo's wet laboratories on severe aplastic anemia, which was another way I decided to give back to my community, assisting the efforts of the researchers devoted to curing hematologic diseases. In terms of volunteering, I am also a volunteer for an organization called Next Step STRIVE. As a volunteer, I mentor kids with sickle cell anemia weekly, playing games and spending time with them in a welcoming environment. Currently, I am a rising sophomore at Harvard College planning to study Neurobiology with a secondary in Global Health and Health Policy. I plan to use this education as a way to advocate for health disparities across the world, especially those that disproportionately affect Black and Brown communities like sickle cell anemia.

When I was just 6 months old, my parents learned that I had sickle cell disease—a group of inherited red blood cell disorders that can cause any number of complications, including difficulty breathing, kidney problems, and recurring pain crises, to name a few. It impacted me in three main ways: socially, physically, and educationally as I grew up with two older brothers who I couldn’t play with outside when it was too hot or too cold; I had acute chest syndrome and was placed on a ventilator, and I almost died. I also had to miss school and was in the hospital for most of my third grade year and all of my fourth-grade year. But that all changed in 2014 when I met Mitchell S. Cairo, M.D., a pediatric hematologist and oncologist, who gave me a new lot on life after undergoing a bone marrow transplant. My mom was my donor, and I received chemotherapy, which eradicated my affected bone marrow with sickle cell anemia; then, they placed my mom’s bone marrow inside of me through a stem cell transplant. For about ten years now, I've been essentially cured, meaning that I haven’t experienced any extended hospitalizations or pain crises in a decade. To give back to my community, I've done several different fundraising and advocacy throughout my youth. For instance, I took part in Dribble for the Cure at St. John's University, which has raised more than $500,000 to support the work of Dr. Cairo and his team at Maria Fareri Children's Hospital of Westchester Medical Center. I've also spoke at Radiothons, on NBC News 4, Lohud (the Journal News), and People Magazine, telling my story and giving my support for all of the hard work done by medical scientists around the world (especially the one who saved my life). For more hands-on work, I went back to the Westchester Medical Center throughout the summer leading to my senior year to conduct research in one of Dr. Cairo's wet laboratories on severe aplastic anemia, which was another way I decided to give back to my community, assisting the efforts of the researchers devoted to curing hematologic diseases. In terms of volunteering, I am also a volunteer for an organization called Next Step STRIVE. As a volunteer, I mentor kids with sickle cell anemia weekly, playing games and spending time with them in a welcoming environment. Currently, I am a rising sophomore at Harvard College planning to study Neurobiology with a secondary in Global Health and Health Policy. I plan to use this education as a way to advocate for health disparities across the world, especially those that disproportionately affect Black and Brown communities like sickle cell anemia.

When I was just 6 months old, my parents learned that I had sickle cell disease—a group of inherited red blood cell disorders that can cause any number of complications, including difficulty breathing, kidney problems and recurring pain crises, to name a few. It impacted me in three main ways: socially, physically, and educationally as I grew up with two older brothers who I couldn’t play with outside when it was too hot or too cold; I had acute chest syndrome and was placed on a ventilator, and I almost died. I also had to miss school and was in the hospital for most of my third grade year and all of my fourth grade year. But that all changed in 2014 when I met Mitchell S. Cairo, M.D., a pediatric hematologist and oncologist, who gave me a new lot on life after undergoing a bone marrow transplant. My mom was my donor-I received chemotherapy, which eradicated my affected bone marrow with sickle cell anemia, then they placed my mom’s bone marrow inside of me through a stem cell transplant. Ever since then, I've been essentially cured, meaning that I hasn’t experienced any extended hospitalizations or pain crises in a decade. To give back to my community, I've done several different fundraising and advocacy throughout my youth. For instance, I took part in Dribble for the Cure at St. John's University, which has raised more than $500,000 to support the work of Dr. Cairo and his team at Maria Fareri Children's Hospital of Westchester Medical Center. I've also spoke at Radiothons, on NBC News 4, Lohud (the Journal News), and People Magazine, telling my story and giving my support for all of the hard work done by medical scientists around the world (especially the one who saved my life). For more hands-on work, I went back to the Westchester Medical Center throughout the summer leading to my senior year to conduct research in one of Dr. Cairo's wet laboratories on severe aplastic anemia, which was another way I decided to give back to my community, assisting the efforts of the researchers devoted to curing hematologic diseases. In terms of volunteering, I am also a volunteer for an organization called Next Step STRIVE. As a volunteer, I mentor kids with sickle cell anemia weekly, playing games and spending time with them in a welcoming environment. Currently, I am a rising sophomore at Harvard College planning to study Neurobiology with a secondary in Global Health and Health Policy. I plan to use this education as a way to advocate for health disparities across the world, especially those that disproportionately affect Black and Brown communities like sickle cell anemia.