New UCLA graduate is among first to receive leading-edge sickle cell disease treatment at UCLA Health

Samuel Idahosa, left, who recently underwent a novel genetic therapy to treat sickle cell disease, is greeted by UCLA men's volleyball assistant head coach Milan Zarkovic at Pauley Pavilion. (Photo by Cesar Sarmiento)

As a child, Samuel Idahosa was accustomed to frequent, debilitating pains. He didn’t know he had sickle cell anemia – a diagnosis his parents opted against disclosing to him due to the social stigma in Nigeria, where they lived.