Our first  #SCDHistoryHighlight for Black History Month brings attention to the life and work of SCDAA co-founder Dr. Charles F. Whitten. Dr. Whitten was a pediatric hematologist whose dedication to supporting the health of sickle cell patients paved the way for advances in screening, education and more. His pioneering work makes him one of the most important figures in sickle cell history.

Dr. Whitten was born in 1922 in Wilmington, Delaware. He graduated from Howard High School and went on to receive his bachelor’s from the University of Pennsylvania and his medical degree from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. He practiced and studied at many hospitals on the east coast before moving to Detroit, Michigan, to study pediatric hematology under Dr. Wolf Zeltzer. In 1956, he was selected to serve as the clinical director of pediatrics at Detroit Receiving Hospital, becoming the first African American to hold that position.

Dr. Whitten is widely celebrated to this day for his dedication to sickle cell screening. In 1974, he established the Sickle Cell Detection and Information Center in Detroit, Michigan. The center was the most comprehensive community program in the country at the time. During his time at the center, Dr. Whitten educated children and families about sickle cell disease and created color-coded dice (also known as “Whitten Dice”) to teach couples about the genetic risks of the condition.