A Letter From the Founder

From lived experience to national action

This organization begins with a truth that has shaped nearly four decades of my life: sickle cell disease is never experienced by one person alone. It is lived by individuals, families, caregivers, clinicians, educators, employers, and communities. It enters homes and classrooms, workplaces and emergency departments. It tests institutions, relationships, and the limits of public will.

The Davis-Walters Sickle Cell Action Network (DW-SCAN) was created in honor of my children, Mariama and John Amara Walters. Their lives were not defined by a diagnosis. They were gifted, loving, determined young people whose potential, contributions, and humanity exceeded every label placed upon them. Their experiences also revealed the profound difference that informed care, strong advocacy, responsive systems, and compassionate leadership can make—and the devastating consequences when those elements are absent.

The work of The Davis-Walters Sickle Cell Action Network (DW-SCAN) transforms remembrance into responsibility. We are building an organization that connects personal experience to policy, community knowledge to institutional action, and scientific possibility to equitable access. Our purpose is not to compete with the many organizations already serving the sickle cell community. It is to add capacity, strengthen alignment, advance practical solutions, and help create the investment required for national progress.

This is a moment of extraordinary promise. Curative therapies and new treatment options are changing the landscape. Yet a medical breakthrough becomes a social breakthrough only when people can understand it, reach it, afford it, and receive the comprehensive support needed before, during, and after treatment. The same is true of every advance in sickle cell care.

Why DW-SCAN exists is for strategic implementation, it is prepared to contribute, and because this moment demands a broader coalition of leadership. It is an invitation to help build a future in which every person living with sickle cell disease is treated with dignity, supported across the lifespan, and able to contribute fully to the communities and nation we share.

We carry forward the names of Mariama and John not only in memory, but in the measurable change their lives inspire.

Kimberley H. Davis
Co-Founder and Executive Director
Davis-Walters Sickle Cell Action Network


Young woman with shoulder-length black hair smiling, wearing a maroon T-shirt with the word 'SISTA' printed on it.
A young man in a navy blue graduation gown and cap with yellow cords and a white and gray honor cord, holding and reading a diploma or certificate, at a graduation ceremony with other graduates and family members in the background.
A young woman with a ponytail, wearing a black top, jeans, and a studded bracelet, peeking from behind a white wall, smiling and pointing upward.
A young man in a suit and tie sitting in an office, with wooden cabinets, a printer, and papers in the background.
A young woman with straight black hair, wearing a white top and a necklace, smiling at the camera in an indoor setting with brown tile walls and decorative green and purple grapevine pattern.
A young man standing on a rooftop balcony overlooking the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., during daytime.

Get Connected

Interested in our work? Complete the form to join our mailing list. You’ll be among the first to know about our advocacy efforts.