Norris Igbineweka’s Post

Very powerful talk on Invisible Disabilities by Dr. Amrita S.

The second of my works I will be presenting to ASCAT https://lnkd.in/ez4S9UvU   b)     Gene-Environmental Influence Of Space And Microgravity On Red Blood Cells With Sickle Cell Disease: The Time Is Now

I am delighted to have two first author posters accepted for prestigious ASCAT conference on 25th – 28th October. Thank you ASCAT https://lnkd.in/ez4S9UvU & for the opportunity. The first works on sickle cell disease I will be presenting are: a)     Understanding Genome-Wide Mutational Burden In Patients With Sickle Cell Disease: Experience In United Kingdom.

I am honoured to announce that I was recently awarded a Springer Publishing Book contract for the book entitled ‘Handbook of Sickle Cell Disease’ aimed at providing additional Sickle Cell Disease education to health professionals to help to address existing disparities in the management of Sickle Cell Disease. I am doubly honoured and pleased to have the most amazing co-editors to work with me on this vision – Dr Kate Gardner, Dr Rachel Kesse-Adu & Prof. Julie Makani. We will also be selecting an incredible variety of contributing authors aligning with this book’s vision which will be ready for release Aug 2024. Watch the space…

The month of October is approaching, and so always an opportunity for self-reflection and to appreciate the journey. I grew up in Peckham – not the greatest of areas socio-economically. Poverty, gang violence, and deprivation all hallmarks of the area at the time. But it did also have community spirit, and I, determination. The picture below represents a pivotal moment in my educational journey just after the Damilola Taylor murder in Peckham at the turn of the millennium – receiving a scholarship from HSBC to leave a comprehensive state secondary school and attend a private sixth-form college. I laugh today, because back then all I knew to wear was a tracksuit, even to collect the award at a meeting with the presenter who is so wonderfully dressed in regal-like attire! I have had many positive and supportive teachers who have contributed to where I am now. However, I still remember being told by one that I did not have what it takes to study medicine or any science-based subject – let alone practice both medicine and science at the same time, or even discover genes for cancer! We can certainly improve as a society by taking care of each other, learning to make less ill-informed, dismissive judgements at face value, and appreciating and nurturing each other’s qualities. We are only as strong as the least of us in society. To the younger generation coming through, keep pushing. If you fall, pick yourself up and try again.

Very pleased to share my latest publication. My work on fetal hemoglobin (HbF) genetics in patients with blood cancers, has allowed for the discovery of new genes with potential implication in certain blood cancers. This small, early preliminary work will hopefully help contribute to allowing for better predictors of treatment response, and targeted therapies for these disease groups in the future. It will be officially published in Annals of Hematology and Oncology on 22nd Sept 2022.

Pleased to be giving this talk. Current and future Sickle Cell Disease treatments. https://lnkd.in/d3gyeUHj

Very pleased to share my Nature journal article: Medical science must address health disparities amongst different ethnic groups https://lnkd.in/d8X4jBSJ