"Managing Sickle Cell Disease: The Chronic Care Model" is the theme of the Conference being hosted by the Sickle Cell Unit (SCU) of the Tropical Medicine Research Institute at UWI on October 30-31, 2008.  The Conference begins with an Opening Ceremony on Thursday, October 30, 2008 at 6 pm at the Mona Visitors’ Lodge and Conference Centre, UWI, Mona. On this occasion the local Clinical Guidelines for the Management of Sickle Cell Disease will be launched.

The Launch will be followed by a day-long symposium on Friday October 31 starting at 8 am at the Main Medical Lecture Theatre, located at the University Hospital of the West Indies. The main address at the Symposium will be delivered by Dr. Russell Ware, Head of Haematology at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, USA. The Symposium features lectures and discussions on various aspects of the disease such as management of pain, infections in sickle cell disease, health maintenance including immunizations.

The Conference is designed to share knowledge about the disease in order to improve the care and treatment of persons affected by sickle cell. It will also serve to honour Professor Graham Serjeant, world renowned authority on sickle cell disease and the first Director of the SCU, for his decades of service to patients with sickle cell disease in Jamaica.

The Symposium is primarily geared towards health care providers and practitioners.  CME credits are awarded. The registration fee for health care providers and practitioners is $1000 for doctors and $500 for nurses and other health care practitioners, while students with ID are free of cost.

For further information interested persons may contact Dr. Monika Asnani at 927-2471 or 977-6151-2.