Methodist-St. Jude Partnership will Elevate Care for Adult Sickle Cell Patients

Following the announcement of a new partnership with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the Methodist Healthcare Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center is seeing growth in the patient population, staff and cutting-edge research initiatives.

“We are treating our patients right now with the resources we have, and we are also looking at what else we can do that will make an impact on their health. When patients come here, they are exposed to a lot of opportunities,” said Dr. Jane Hankins, St. Jude pediatric Hematologist and Oncologist and the new Medical Director of Methodist’s Sickle Cell Center.

As the Center’s new Medical Director, Dr. Hankins’ first goal was to expand the staff. Since August 2016, the team has grown from five members into a multidisciplinary team of 11, including an adult hematologist, a nurse, an administrative assistant, a social worker, a nurse practitioner and a medical assistant, with plans to hire a clinical psychologist in the near future.

She has also worked to improve infrastructure including revising care plans, implementing nationally accepted quality indicators, and better connecting the sickle cell program to other areas in the hospitals, like the Emergency Departments, all with the intention of creating a truly comprehensive sickle cell program.

Dr. Hankins’ and St. Jude’s connection to the Methodist Sickle Cell Center started years before as a result of her unique interest in supporting adolescent patients as they transition to adult care.

“When I started at St. Jude, I realized that, as the kids became older adolescents, their engagement in their treatment started to fade. At that time, we were only graduating 30% of our kids into adult care programs. So, we progressively built the transition to adult care program to prepare patients to assume responsibilities for their care.”

After creating the program at St. Jude, Dr. Hankins launched a transition program at Methodist to ensure the same support and resources were available to young adults. In 2016, 80% of St. Jude’s graduating patients chose to come to Methodist’s Sickle Cell Center for their continued care.

Moving forward, the Center will begin offering patients several opportunities to receive cutting-edge therapies, including a research study with West Cancer Center physicians, Drs. Jason Chandler and Yasser Khaled, that will offer bone marrow transplants to adult sickle cell patients. Bone marrow transplantation is currently the only available treatment for sickle cell disease that provides a chance of a cure. Gene therapy, which is being researched as another possible cure for sickle cell disease, is currently being developed at St. Jude and will also become an option for adults treated at Methodist’s Center.

“In the years to come, we are going to have the tools needed to cure adults with sickle cell disease here in Memphis, which to me is mind-blowing. It is very exciting to have a comprehensive program that delivers evidence-based care and cutting-edge research at the same time,” said Dr. Hankins.

Pictured Above: The Methodist Healthcare Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center Team standing left to right:

Gale Roster, RN, ToMeisha Conard-Stafford, MSW, Ashley Rashe, RN, Sheila Anderson, RN,Jacqueline Harris, Lisa Garrison, MLT, Jane Hankins, MD, MS, Gail Fortner, RN, ArtangelaHenry, FNP, ACNP and sitting: Curtis Owens, MD.