Services & Specialties

Sickle Cell Center

Comprehensive Care for Sickle Cell and Hemoglobin Disorders

The Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center at Cincinnati Children’s is a national leader in caring for children with sickle cell disease, thalassemia and other hemoglobin disorders. We work closely with families to help their children thrive despite health challenges.

As part of the Cancer and Blood Diseases Institute, our center is large enough to offer exceptional patient care and research, yet small enough for us to get to know children and families to personalize their care. Our team of physicians, nurses and other health professionals currently care for more than 300 patients with hemoglobin disorders. We provide comprehensive care, psychological support, social services, education and counseling.

Our partnerships with national research organizations, including the National Institutes of Health, provide patients with access to the latest innovative therapies.

How We Provide Support

A serious chronic illness such as sickle cell disease presents many challenges for patients and their families. That is why we provide a number of supportive services, including assistance with school issues, a summer camp for patients, and psychology and social work support in clinic.

Our multidisciplinary team plays an important role by helping patients and families understand their medical condition and guiding them to community resources.

The Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center director, Punam Malik, MD, is internationally known for her innovative gene therapy research. She also is the program leader of the Hematology and Gene Therapy Program at the Cancer and Blood Diseases Institute. 

Our Services

At the Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center, a team approach allows us to provide the most effective, coordinated care possible. Our medical services include:

• Coordination of newborn screening follow-up testing, education and counseling for hemoglobin disorders
• Comprehensive care for patients from birth through young adulthood
• Access to novel therapies through our partnership with the National Institutes of Health
• 24-hour emergency care through the Cincinnati Children’s Emergency Department, with support from an on-call hematologist
• Extensive hemoglobinopathy laboratory testing

Patients at the center benefit from the Day Hospital, where they can receive blood transfusions and other procedures. This facility provides the same high level of care and close observation available on an inpatient basis, but allows patients and families to return home at night. Internet access is available.