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This was the beginning  of a twenty-year home at NIH and it was an unbelievable experience. In a short time, I had the support of most of the scientific community. I was pretty good at communicating  with good  interpersonal skills. I knew what I didn't know and always sought to surround myself  with  individuals who knew things that I didn’t know.   It was a steep learning curve and most of the scientists were very helpful and I simply devoured information. I always enjoyed learning  and reading books, even now the latest by James Comey and John McCain.   The  sickle cell disease program  attracted researchers from all over the world to work on this disease of rather  initial low interest. Sickle cell disease is a multi-disciplinary disease embracing  many branches of medicine and science. There is the genetics,  biochemistry, physiology, cell and molecular  biology, and many other  fields of science.  The scientific investigators, clinicians, health educators  became a close  family working together  to achieve the goals of the program. The entire community was eager to work  and move the field forward to positively impact the lives of sickle cell patients. This is what I miss the most. For me, working in this area with like a holiday with the best scientists and clinicians contributing to the program. I can’t take credit for the enormous progress but hopefully my being there made a difference. In my  position of leadership, I was charged with  organizing the largest research program in the Blood Division. Many of the intramural scientists as Alan Schechter , Connie Nagochi, Bill Eaton, Arthur Nienhus, Griffin Rodgers, and many others  were willing  to expand my knowledge of many areas of ongoing research. The Branch organized “think tanks” bringing scientists together from the national and international community to discuss needs and opportunities in sickle cell research, leading to programs we were able to implement.

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