title: Tracking down the first recorded sickle cell patient in Western medicine.
abstract: In 1910, the first article describing a case of sickle cell anemia appeared in Archives of Internal Medicine. In 1987, a historian of African American medical history, Todd Savitt, took advantage of an opportunity to research the circumstances behind the publication of that first article and identify the people (patient and physicians) involved. Savitt recounts his "adventures" in tracing the story to its origins in the West Indies.
authors.affiliation: Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, Department of Bioethics and Interdisciplinary Studies, 600 Moye Blvd, Greenville, NC 27858, USA. savittT@ecu.edu
authors.forename: Todd L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Savitt
mesh_terms: D000755:Anemia, Sickle Cell / Q000266:history*; D044383:Black People / Q000266:history*; D019425:Grenada; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000266:history; D014481:United States; D001741:Black or African American