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From May 6th - 9th, 2024, ASH will host its fourth workshop to train health care professionals to establish a clinical center focused on the needs of adults living with sickle cell disease (SCD). The workshop will walk participants through the common components of such centers, the process for developing a business plan and advocating to stakeholders, the ins and outs of operations, and approaches to measuring impact and improve on the quality of care provided in these centers.

The faculty assembled for this workshop will be drawn from an array of these comprehensive care centers to address the nuts and bolts of how these centers were developed and implemented and how they are being sustained. At the end of the workshop, participants will have a professional network of leaders in the area of adult SCD care as well as peers working toward implementation of programs all addressing the same goal, to improve outcomes for people living with SCD.

APPLICATIONS FOR THE 2025 SCD CENTERS WORKSHOP will open this summer

Workshop Curriculum

The workshop will walk through the components and services of a comprehensive SCD center, the development of a business plan for this center, advocacy for that plan, its implementation, and the assessment and improvement of a center. Specific topics include:

• Understanding Your Patient Population and Patterns of Utilization
• Creating a Comprehensive, Institution-Wide Approach to Pain
• Options for Acute Care Management
• Alternative Models for Delivery of Care
• Running the 1-Physician Show
• Actionable Strategies for Addressing Health Inequities in SCD
• Building on the Relationship with Community Based Organizations

Eligibility Requirements

Effectively managing SCD demands a collective approach. As such, ASH is extending an invitation to teams consisting of 2-3 members to apply for participation in the workshop.

• Applicants should be focused on developing comprehensive care for adults living with SCD.
• Applications should include the medical champion for the center; most likely, that champion will be a physician, but the Society will also review applications with an advanced practice professional with prescribing authority in the state of the center.
• Members of the team may include (for example):
  • A business official from the institution where the center will be housed.
  • Additional health care professionals who will work in the center, including but not limited to nursing leaders, mental health providers, social workers, community health workers.
  • A representative of the SC community the center will serve.
  • A health care professional from the corresponding pediatric sickle cell disease center.
• Note: Only centers that are located in North America are eligible for the workshop

Applicants can apply in advance of becoming a member of ASH. Members of selected teams that are eligible for ASH membership will be required to apply for membership between the notification of selection and the workshop on May 6th - 9th, 2024.

Application Process

2024 Application Opens: September 1st, 2023
2024 Application Deadline: October 30th, 2023

All applications for the 2024 SCD Centers Workshop must include the following:

• Application Contact Information: Name and contact information for the person submitting the application.
• Team Information:
  • Name and contact information of the team lead. A biosketch using the National Institutes of Health (NIH) biosketch format. For information on this format please visit
  • Name, contact information and 3 sentence biosketches for additional team members (up to two team members)
• Applicants will be asked to provide summative data and narrative responses regarding various aspects of their clinic's approach to sickle cell disease (SCD) care.
• Letter of Support: The purpose of this letter of support is to indicate that decision-makers within the institution are generally supportive of efforts to address the needs of the adult SCD population served by the institution.

ASH will pay for reasonable travel expenses for workshop participants, including flights to and from the workshop, hotel accommodations, and most meals. Note that participants will be required to book any travel and hotel room nights through the ASH official travel agent.

Workshop Co-chairs

The co-chairs of the SCD Centers Workshop will serve as faculty for the workshop and will be joined by 10 or more additional faculty with backgrounds in financial analysis, social work and care coordination, and the development of a program’s workforce, among other topics.

The 2024 workshop co-chairs are:

• Cece Calhoun, MD, MPHS, MA, Yale University
• Payal Desai, MD, Atrium Health
• Julie Kanter, MD, University of Alabama
• Sophie Lanzkron, MD, MHS, Johns Hopkins Hospital

Terms and Conditions

As a condition of acceptance to ASH SCD Centers Workshop, members of selected teams who are eligible for ASH membership will be required to maintain ASH membership for the duration of the program. Applicants need not be members on initial application.

All participants are also required to:

• Adhere to all deadlines
• Attend the entirety of the in-person workshop
• Attend as many monthly webinars as possible to continue building this community following the in-person workshop
• Make travel reservations through ASH’s official travel agent
• Complete the ASH Conflict-of-Interest form and abide by the ASH COI policy
• Acknowledge the ASH Code of Conduct and abide by it
• Cite support from the ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ in any publications resulting from the workshop
• Respond to future inquiries from ASH regarding the status of their SCD center
• Attend the 2025 SCD Centers Workshop as a Year Two Participant

Questions?

For questions about this workshop, please contact [email protected].