Howard University Hospital’s Sickle Cell Center Gets Funding Boost, Offering New Hope for Patients Across D.C.

For many people living with sickle cell disease, the pain is not just intense; it is life-disrupting. It sends patients from home to emergency rooms again and again, searching for relief while juggling physical exhaustion and emotional strain. Now, an expanded and newly funded Center for Sickle Cell Disease at Howard University Hospital is working to change that reality for patients across the District, WTOP News reports.

“It’s something that you have to feel for yourself,” Ayanna Johnson, a sickle cell patient, told WTOP. “It’s a horrible pain, but it’s so much worse than that, because it also deals with your mental state. You have to be really strong to deal with that amount of pain. It’s the amount of pain you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy.”

Johnson was diagnosed at just 3 years old. Early treatment focused on managing pain with Tylenol and IV medication, and later opioids, which she said dulled the pain without addressing the disease itself. Over time, the pain moved unpredictably through her body, from her chest, making it hard to breathe, to her feet.

Everything changed more than a decade ago when she began taking a therapeutic drug.

“That really changed my life and allowed me to start to have a life and to decrease my pain medication,” she said.

Helping more patients reach that turning point is a core mission of the expanded center. Dr. James G. Taylor VI, director of Howard University Hospital’s Center for Sickle Cell Disease, explained how severe the condition can be, describing it as “the equivalent of being on Mount Everest at base camp at 16,000 feet, and your brain just doesn’t function well there.”

According to Taylor, many patients spend dozens of days in the hospital each year, with some cases far more extreme. One patient, he said, spent 106 days in the hospital in a single year. The center’s goal is to reduce those numbers by getting patients on effective, long-term treatment plans.

“We have three FDA approved drugs now, we have transfusion therapy,” Taylor said. “These four are underutilized, and so my goal is to get patients on treatment, so we keep them away from the hospital.”

That work just received a significant funding boost. The newly passed D.C. budget includes $2.2 million dedicated to expanding coverage and treatment for sickle cell patients citywide.

“The sickle cell program at Howard was already in place, and so this is work they were already doing,” D.C. Health Director Dr. Ayanna Bennett told WTOP. “This adds a layer of resource to a program that was already working.”

Bennett said the investment will not only improve the quality of life for patients but also ease pressure on emergency rooms across the city.

“Somebody (with sickle cell) needing to get that care for eight hours in an ER takes up a bed that really probably three or four people could have cycled through and gotten their care,” Bennett said.

The refurbished center now includes two acute care rooms designed specifically for long pain crisis visits, along with additional exam rooms for routine care. For Taylor, the focus remains on prevention and stability.

“We treat the pain crisis, but really, if you are spending too much time with us, getting acute care treatment, you need to be on one of our therapies that will prevent this from happening,” he said.

Beyond medical treatment, the center also addresses the real-world challenges many patients face. A dedicated social worker helps patients navigate issues like housing, employment, and insurance.

“We see a lot of homelessness in this population because they can’t work, they’re so sick. So, if you don’t work, you don’t have an income, you don’t have a home, you don’t have health insurance, and that’s where social work we really want to look out for all these dimensions of disease,” Taylor said.

For Johnson, the center represents more than upgraded rooms and new funding. It represents dignity, visibility, and care.

“To have a place like this is really important to the community, because a lot of times we feel left out, you know, so many things for cancer patients and diabetics but sickle cell, we’re just a portion that they just don’t really care about,” Johnson said. “This place makes us feel cared for.”

With new resources, expanded care, and a patient-first approach, Howard University Hospital’s Center for Sickle Cell Disease is setting a powerful example of what it looks like when a community is truly invested in the health and future of its people.

Cover photo: Howard University Hospital’s Sickle Cell Center Gets Funding Boost, Offering New Hope for Patients Across D.C./Photo credit: Luke Lukert/WTOP News