Congratulations to HELI 2013 Alumna Raymona Lawrence, DrPH, MPH, on her exceptionally successful past year!
Dr. Lawrence is a Dual-PI with Dr. Ifeyinwa Osunkwo on a $9.8 million award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to study the Comparative Effectiveness of Peer Mentoring versus Structured Education-Based Transition Programming for the Management of Care Transitions in Emerging Adults with Sickle Cell Disease. The project was approved in September 2017 and runs through March 2024.
The PCORI study was selected for funding through a PCORI funding announcement specifically focused on comparing different ways to manage the transition of people with sickle cell disease from pediatric to adult care. The team dubbed this study the Sickle Cell Trevor Thompson Transition UP Project (ST3P UP) in honor of their co-investigator Dr. Trevor Thompson who passed away from complications of Sickle Cell Disease midway through the writing of the grant.
Read more about the project here.
In addition to the PCORI award, Dr. Lawrence also received the National Institutes of Health Loan Repayment Program Award from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) in August 2018! This is an extremely competitive program and the NIMHD will repay Dr. Lawrence’s student loans in exchange for her work on health disparities research in sickle cell disease.
Dr. Lawrence noted: “My HELI experience was invaluable in obtaining these awards. HELI introduced me to resources and networks that greatly enhanced my knowledge of Health Disparities and my ability to perform high quality health disparities research. Having HELI on my application was a clear indication to reviewers that I had exemplary health disparities training and that I was committed to Health disparities research.”
Congratulations & continuing best wishes, Dr. Lawrence!
Health Equity Leadership Institute 