Shining Light on Clinicians Serving the Hereditary Blood Disorders Community
Introducing Dr. Adekunle Adekile, a seasoned pediatric hematologist at Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital in Kuwait and Chair of the Board of Directors, Global Action Network for Sickle Cell & Other Inherited Blood Disorders (GANSID).
GANSID: What is your specialty and why did you choose that specialty?
Dr. Adekile: Pediatric hematology. I came into the field mainly because of my interest in hemoglobin disorders, especially sickle cell disease (SCD)
GANSID: Can you share a major challenge you have or currently encountering in your practice that may or may not be peculiar to your region or country?
Dr. Adekile: I have been fortunate in my career to manage patients with SCD on three continents – Africa, North America, and the Middle East. I established my first sickle cell clinic in Nigeria in the 1980s and was involved with patients in Washington, DC, and Augusta, Ga. in the USA in the 1980s and 1990s, after which I came to Kuwait about 30 years ago. Each situation had its peculiarities. Kuwait was particularly challenging because there had never been an organized sickle cell clinic in the country and there were no published studies about the local experience. We had to start from scratch.
GANSID: How have you been able to overcome the challenge?
Dr. Adekile: To understand the situation in Kuwait, one of the first things was to carry out a retrospective study of all the patients with SCD admitted to the pediatric wards in the preceding 10 years. That gave us invaluable information on the phenotype of the disease among Kuwaitis. One major finding was that the most patients were admitted in July and August, which were the hottest months of the year in this semi-desert country. Simply educating the patients and their families to avoid exposure to extreme heat and to keep hydrated drastically reduced the hospitalization rate!
GANSID: A successful clinical story you would like to share?
Dr. Adekile: One of the most agonizing clinical situations is dealing with families who have multiple children affected by a genetic disease. I have dealt with such families who have 2 or more children with SCD. Quite often all the children might be admitted to the hospital at the same time and the parents, especially the mother, get very frazzled. One family that I managed had 3 such children. This was in the early 1990s when hydroxyurea was not widely used, especially in children. I was able to convince the parents to let us start the children on the drug and they all responded very well. They are now in their 20s and 30s. They have all graduated from college and are working in different fields.
GANSID: What advice do you have for fellow clinicians?
Dr. Adekile: My advice is that clinicians should continuously educate themselves in their fields. That way they are aware of new developments, which they can offer their patients. They should also constantly document their experiences so they learn from past patients to more effectively manage subsequent ones. Clinicians should be empathetic and help to organize patient support groups. This is particularly important for those with inherited diseases. Next to patients with lived experience, clinicians are the next most effective advocates for those living with the disease.
