VCU Health System joins Kiss 99.3 and 105.7 FM to present a sickle cell research benefit concert

By Mike Porter

The Virginia Commonwealth University Health System along with Kiss 99.3 and 105.7 FM are sponsoring a concert by jazz guitarist and singer Chuck Brown, also known as the “Godfather of go-go,” to benefit sickle cell research.  

“A Party for The People” is scheduled for 8 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 27, at the Hat Factory, 140 Virginia St., Richmond. Richmond-based “Plunky and Oneness” will also perform. Advance tickets are $25 for general admission.  A limited number of advance tickets will be sold for $20 to VCU Health System employees with a valid ID. Tickets are available at the Hat Factory box office or online at http://www.hatfactoryva.com/.

All proceeds from the concert will be donated to the Florence Neal Cooper-Smith Initiative for Sickle Cell Research at the MCV Foundation to help sponsor a sickle cell research fellowship and to support aggressive research for finding a cure for Sickle Cell disease.

“The programs in place at VCU to help sickle cell patients are a result of the efforts of Florence Neal Cooper-Smith, a pioneer of sickle cell awareness both regionally and nationally at a time when there was very little public awareness about sickle cell disease,” said Wally R. Smith, M.D., professor and scientific director of the VCU Center on Health Disparities and chair of the Division of Quality Health Care at VCU. “The money raised from this concert will allow us to continue to educate the public and search for a cure.” 

Florence Neal Cooper-Smith organized Richmond’s first citywide survey in 1969 to determine the extent of sickle cell awareness in the surrounding localities. In 1972, Smith and Robert Scott created the Virginia Sickle Cell Anemia Awareness Program to educate the public about sickle cell anemia. 

Advances in sickle cell pioneered or studied at VCU include hydroxyurea – the first drug for sickle cell anemia – improvements in bone marrow transplantation techniques, and advances in sickle cell pain management such as spinal drug delivery devices.