We are pleased to report that Dr Julie Makani has been awarded the Royal Society Pfizer Award for her outstanding research into using anaemia in sickle cell disease (SCD) as a model for translating genetic research into health benefits. Dr Makani is a Wellcome Trust Intermediate Fellow in Public Health and Tropical Medicine, based in the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences in Tanzania, she and her team are also contributing to the MalariaGEN Consortial Project 3.

The £60,000 award will contribute towards a 12 month study which aims to provide better understanding of the molecular, genetic and environmental mechanisms determining disease course of anaemia in SCD. She has developed a systematic framework to conduct a clinical trial of Hydroxyurea – a chemotherapy agent with potent effects on the bone marrow – in the treatment of anaemia in SCD.

The award grant will be presented to Dr Makani at a ceremony at the Royal Society in London on 18 October 2011.