This book is dedicated to the many warriors living with sickle cell disease we editors have been honored to serve in our medical practice at Howard University, Johns Hopkins University, the National Institutes of Health, and the University of Pittsburgh.
Our patients have taught us more lessons than can ever be captured in a textbook, and our medical care for them has been both humbling and rewarding. We are indebted to each one of them for sharing with us a glimpse into their daily resilience, fortitude, and grace in the face of unspeakable suffering. We are grateful for their infectious hope. Most of all, we thank them for their trust in us as we work together with them as allies to embrace the best science and medicine to advance toward a brighter future. We owe them our commitment to educate the public and medical community about this devastating disease, and to work with them to overcome the barriers to health equity engendered by poverty, systemic racism, and often inadequate medical insurance for the ultimate "pre-existing condition," an inherited genetic disease. We sincerely hope this book may contribute to worldwide excellence in care for all patients with sickle cell disease.