EMPOWER SCD: Elevating Mentoring Possibilities for Overcoming Withstanding Educational Roadblocks in Sickle Cell Disease – STEMM mentoring for youth with sickle cell disease.
NIH General Medical Science (NIGMS) R25 – Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA)
This award is $1.25M over 5 years to develop and implement a near-peer mentoring program for middle and high school students with sickle cell disease with ethnically and gender-matched college and professional students at Georgia Tech and Morehouse School of Medicine, to promote interest in STEMM careers and academic achievement in STEMM courses.
Led by Drs. Beatrice Gee and Elaissa Hardy, the project team includes Drs. Billy Holcombe, Jason Payne, Christopher Harden (Hughes Spalding SCD Program teacher) and Kimberly Hagen (Rollins School of Public Health). Our kickoff event will be summer camp in July 2025 with the first (of four) cohort of mentee-mentor dyads.
Updates will be posted here while our EMPOWER SCD website is built.
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October 4, 2024
We are recruiting mentors from undergraduate or graduate STEMM degree programs at Georgia Tech or Morehouse School of Medicine. Mentors will be paired with one middle or high student with Sickle Cell Disease during the 2025-2026 academic year. We are seeking 20 mentors for this cohort.
- **UPDATE** Applications will be accepted through December 20, 2024.
- Notice of acceptance will be sent out by January 17, 2025.
- Upon acceptance, Mentors will complete self-paced training by the end of April 2025.
More detailed information about the program can be found here.
Direct any questions to –