Elliott Vichinsky, MD

Elliott Vichinsky, MD diagnoses and treats children with blood disorders, cancers and tumors. He founded and directs the largest hemoglobinopathy center of sickle cell disease and thalassemia in North America. The center is dedicated to developing therapy to treat and cure the 200,000 infants born worldwide each year with sickle cell or thalassemia. He has been instrumental in implementing newborn screening programs for blood diseases in California and throughout the world. He is working with the World Health Organization in studying the worldwide public health problem of thalassemia and sickle cell disease.

Dr. Vichinsky was responsible for the development of the Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program, which has cured hundreds of children who had sickle cell anemia, thalassemia, and various cancers. He has developed techniques that make blood safer for chronically transfused patients. These patients often suffer from iron overload as a result of either transfusion therapy or genetic mutations. Iron overload causes thousands of deaths each year. Dr. Vichinsky has been an international leader in developing drugs to remove excess iron and non-invasive equipment to measure iron in the body.