[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="500"] Image credit: CDC/Janice Haney Carr[/caption] A sickle is a curved bladed implement often used for harvesting crops. No, farming or gardening doesn’t have anything to do with sickle cell disease, but it does explain where “sickle cells” got their name--based on their shape! If you don’t have sickle cell disease, one type of which is called sickle cell anemia, you won’t have sickle cells in your blood. People with sickle cell disease have differently shaped red blood cells, the typ

February is Black History Month in the United States and Canada. The Centres for Disease Control categorize any Americans who have ancestry in any of the "Black racial groups of Africa” [1]. I will opt in this post to simply use the term Black to be inclusive of the diversities of this racial group, including those identifying as American, Canadian, African, Caribbean, or other more specific demographics [1].

In 2013, 15% of the American population identified as Black or African American (including those who identify as bi-racial or multi-racial) [ Read More