Staff Spotlight: Sarah Reeves

The Michigan Sickle Cell Data Collection (MiSCDC) program, led by PI Sarah L. Reeves, PhD, MPH, is a collaborative effort by the CHEAR Center and the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services (MDHHS) that is funded by the CDC. The objective of MiSCDC is to collect health information about Michiganders living with sickle cell disease to study long-term trends in diagnosis, healthcare use, and outcomes. This is accomplished through linking and deduplicating multiple sources of Michigan-specific data, including vital records, newborn screening, Medicaid, hospital discharge databases, immunizations, and sickle cell disease clinics. Analyses of the data inform policy changes and opportunities for improvement in healthcare services and treatments. In addition to the data collection efforts, MiSCDC convenes a multidisciplinary team including clinicians, public ahealth professionals, community-based organizations, advocates, and families to increase sickle cell disease-related partnerships across the state. There is also a robust dissemination plan to communicate findings to stakeholders in the sickle cell disease community. 

Recent accomplishments from MiSCDC include:

• In February, Dr. Reeves presented MiSCDC findings as an invited presenter at the University of Pennsylvania Leonard Davis Institute through the Emerging Scholars Exchange Program.

• In March, Dr. Mary Hulihan, project officer at the CDC, visited the CHEAR Center for the annual CDC site visit. This visit includes a statewide stakeholder meeting to disseminate MiSCDC work and plan for future opportunities. 

• MiSCDC now has a website: miscdc.org. The website, which launched in March, provides easy access to programmatic communications, and will soon host a data dashboard.

• Results from the MiSCDC annual report were disseminated widely through an infographic (see below), including through invited meetings with Senator Stabenow and Representative Dingell’s offices. 

• Recent publications include:

  • COVID-19 Infection and Outcomes in Newborn Screening Cohorts of Sickle Cell Trait and Sickle Cell Disease in Michigan and Georgia, In press at Journal of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology.

  • Sickle Cell Disease Case Ascertainment using Surveillance or Single Administrative Database Case Definitions, In Press at Public Health Reports.

• Team members submitted nine abstracts to the Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting, AcademyHealth Annual Meeting, and the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists Conference. 

Co-Investigators include CHEAR faculty member Dr. Kevin Dombkowski and Dominic Smith (MDHHS). CHEAR staff include Michaella Baker, Krista Latta, Hannah Peng, Pooja Patel, Dr. Melinda Rushing, and Missy Plegue.