Executive Profile
Lanetta Bronté, MD, MPH, MSPH, is a visionary physician-executive, public health strategist, researcher, institution-builder, and international convener whose career has transformed the landscape of sickle cell disease care, research, education, advocacy, and public policy. As President and Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation for Sickle Cell Disease Research, Dr. Bronté has built an integrated statewide infrastructure that brings together comprehensive clinical care, community engagement, public health surveillance, clinical research, laboratory services, workforce development, scientific publishing, and access to emerging and curative therapies.
Signature Impact
• 6000 patients
• 1,200 attendees
Biography
Leadership Portfolio
- President & CEO, Foundation for Sickle Cell Disease Research
- Director, Florida Sickle Cell Registry
- Founding Editor, Journal of Sickle Cell Disease
- Academic Appointment: Associate Professor, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
- Chief Research Officer, FSCDR Clinical Trials and Translational Research Center
- Laboratory Director, FSCDR CLIA-Waived Laboratories
- President-Elect, Broward County Medical Association (2027); President (2028)
- Admissions Committee Service: Miller School of Medicine and Public Health
Education & Multidisciplinary Training
A native of Creedmoor, North Carolina, Dr. Bronté began her academic journey at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she completed her undergraduate studies in Biology. She subsequently earned a Master of Science in Public Health in Medical Parasitology and Laboratory Practice from the UNC School of Public Health. She then completed a joint Doctor of Medicine and Master of Public Health program through the UNC School of Medicine and UNC School of Public Health, with advanced training in Health Policy and Administration.
Dr. Bronté completed her internship in medicine at Tulane University and her residency training in psychiatry at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Her unusually broad preparation—spanning biology, laboratory science, public health, health policy, clinical medicine, and psychiatry—has shaped her ability to address sickle cell disease as far more than a hematologic disorder. She understands it as a complex, lifelong condition influenced by clinical, psychological, social, economic, institutional, and structural forces.
Dr. Bronté also served as an Associate Professor at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Her academic service included membership on both the Miller School of Medicine Admissions Committee and the Public Health Admissions Committee, where she contributed to the evaluation and selection of future physicians and public health professionals.
Transforming Sickle Cell Care Across Florida
Under Dr. Bronté’s leadership, the Foundation for Sickle Cell Disease Research has developed a statewide network of 15 Sickle Cell Centers of Excellence throughout Florida. The network provides individuals living with sickle cell disease access to comprehensive, coordinated care across the lifespan, including primary and preventive care, acute vaso-occlusive crisis treatment, infusion services, laboratory and diagnostic testing, behavioral health services, patient navigation, care coordination, specialty consultation, education, and community outreach.
Recognizing that individuals with sickle cell disease have historically been forced to depend on hospital emergency departments for both routine and acute care, Dr. Bronté pioneered a model that brings timely, disease-specific treatment into an outpatient and urgent-care environment. The flagship Hollywood Center of Excellence operates around the clock, offering patients an alternative pathway for the evaluation and treatment of vaso-occlusive pain and other complications. This model places knowledgeable clinicians, established care plans, laboratory testing, infusion services, and physician collaboration within a coordinated system designed specifically around the needs of people living with sickle cell disease.
The clinical network has grown from 279 patient visits in 2015 to more than 10,000 visits annually. Its expansion reflects both the extraordinary unmet need for specialized sickle cell services and the trust the organization has earned from patients, families, hospitals, health plans, government agencies, and community partners. The Centers of Excellence model has demonstrated meaningful reductions in avoidable emergency department utilization and hospitalization while improving access to preventive, longitudinal, and specialty care.
Research, Registry & Laboratory Leadership
Dr. Bronté also serves as Chief Research Officer of the FSCDR Clinical Trials and Translational Research Center, where she has developed an infrastructure capable of bringing innovative clinical research directly to the sickle cell community. Under her direction, the organization participates in clinical trials, translational studies, real-world evidence initiatives, patient-reported outcome research, post-treatment monitoring, and the evaluation of emerging therapies.
Her work has helped reshape the traditional relationship between community-based care and academic research. Rather than requiring individuals with sickle cell disease to navigate fragmented institutions, Dr. Bronté’s model integrates clinical care, research participation, education, navigation, and long-term follow-up within an environment centered on the patient. Her leadership has expanded access to research for communities historically underrepresented in clinical trials and has strengthened the role of patients and families as partners in scientific advancement.
As Director of the Florida Sickle Cell Registry, Dr. Bronté oversees the development of a statewide public health and surveillance resource that connects newborn screening, clinical care, epidemiology, health care utilization, geographic distribution, complications, outcomes, and mortality. The Registry is designed to improve Florida’s ability to identify individuals affected by sickle cell disease and sickle cell trait, understand where gaps in services exist, evaluate patterns of care, and guide public health planning, policy, resource allocation, and quality improvement.
Dr. Bronté additionally serves as Laboratory Director of FSCDR’s CLIA-Waived Laboratories. Drawing upon her foundational training in medical parasitology and laboratory practice, she has expanded access to point-of-care testing and diagnostic services throughout the Centers of Excellence. This laboratory infrastructure supports timely clinical decision-making, treatment safety, disease monitoring, preventive care, and continuity across the clinical network.
Scientific Publishing
National And International Convening Leadership
Among Dr. Bronté’s most consequential achievements is the creation and stewardship of the Annual Sickle Cell Disease Research and Educational Symposium. Now in its 20th year, the Symposium has grown into a defining national and international gathering and one of the most significant sickle cell meetings in the United States.
The 20th-year Symposium convened approximately 1,200 attendees and brought together basic, translational, and clinical researchers; physicians, nurses, pharmacists, behavioral health professionals, and other clinicians; individuals living with sickle cell disease; caregivers and advocates; government leaders; public health officials; industry partners; community organizations; and policymakers from across the United States and around the world.
Unlike traditional scientific meetings, the Symposium intentionally places scientific discovery, clinical practice, public policy, community engagement, and lived experience within the same forum. Researchers present discoveries directly alongside clinicians implementing care, patients and families describing the realities of the disease, government representatives addressing policy and public health priorities, and advocates working to eliminate inequities in access and outcomes. Through this model, Dr. Bronté has built more than a conference—she has created an international community committed to accelerating progress in sickle cell disease.
She has also expanded public awareness and national support for the sickle cell community through the engagement of influential leaders in sports, entertainment, philanthropy, and business. The Symposium and the Foundation’s mission have received support and participation from prominent figures including Deion Sanders, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Viola Davis, Ryan Clark, and Alex Rodriguez. Their involvement has helped amplify the voices of individuals and families affected by sickle cell disease and bring the urgency of the cause to audiences far beyond the traditional medical and scientific community.
A defining moment in the Symposium’s history occurred in 2013, when several former directors and leaders of NIH funded Sickle Cell Centers approached Dr. Bronté about incorporating the longstanding National Sickle Cell Disease Scientific Meeting into her national Symposium. Recognizing the importance of preserving this historic scientific forum, she eagerly agreed.
That decision ensured the continuation of an essential national scientific tradition while expanding it into a broader and more inclusive gathering. The combined meeting now unites investigators, clinicians, patients, caregivers, advocates, government officials, public health leaders, and community partners in one shared space. In 2027, Dr. Bronté and the Foundation will commemorate a historic milestone by convening the 50th National Sickle Cell Disease Scientific Meeting as part of the Annual Sickle Cell Disease Research and Educational Symposium.
Through this work, Dr. Bronté has preserved five decades of scientific history while building a forward-looking platform for collaboration, workforce development, patient engagement, and innovation. The Symposium has become an institution in its own right—one that advances science, educates clinicians, elevates patient voices, strengthens advocacy, develops future leaders, and challenges the global community to move more urgently toward better treatment and cure.
Pathways To Cure & Rural Expansion
Dr. Bronté is also leading Pathways to Cure, a statewide initiative designed to educate, engage, and empower individuals living with sickle cell disease and their caregivers regarding curative treatment options, including stem cell transplantation and gene therapy. The initiative extends beyond awareness by developing patient navigation, provider training, referral infrastructure, psychosocial and family support, health-literacy services, digital-access assistance, community education forums, and data systems that identify and address barriers to curative care.
Through Pathways to Cure, health care professionals receive education regarding patient eligibility, referral pathways, preparation for treatment, post-therapy management, and long-term follow-up. Patients and families receive understandable, culturally responsive information and individualized support as they consider complex treatment decisions. The initiative reflects Dr. Bronté’s belief that the availability of curative therapies is not enough; patients must also have the knowledge, navigation, clinical support, and equitable access required to benefit from them.
She is simultaneously directing the development of the Gainesville Sickle Cell Center of Excellence, an expansion created to address critical access gaps throughout rural North Central Florida. The Gainesville Center will serve as a regional hub for individuals and families in Alachua, Bradford, Columbia, Suwannee, Gilchrist, Levy, Marion, and Union Counties. The initiative will bring comprehensive care, clinical navigation, diagnostic services, community education, patient and family support, and connections to advanced and curative therapies into communities that have historically lacked local access to specialized sickle cell services.
Organized Medicine & National Service
Dr. Bronté’s leadership extends beyond sickle cell disease and into organized medicine. She has been selected to serve as President-Elect of the Broward County Medical Association in 2027 and will assume the presidency in 2028. Her selection reflects a career defined by physician leadership, health equity, institution-building, and service to patients and the medical profession.
She has also been invited to contribute her expertise to the National Institutes of Health through participation in a Special Emphasis Panel reviewing proposals for collaborative international research projects. Her areas of expertise include sickle cell disease, comprehensive care delivery, clinical research infrastructure, public health surveillance, health systems transformation, behavioral health integration, patient navigation, and strategies to improve access for medically underserved populations.
Leadership Philosophy & Legacy
Throughout her career, Dr. Bronté has brought together physicians, nurses, researchers, laboratory professionals, public health leaders, hospitals, health plans, government agencies, policymakers, faith communities, advocates, patients, and families around a shared mission: ensuring that individuals living with sickle cell disease receive the quality of care, scientific opportunity, dignity, and hope they deserve.
Her work is grounded in the conviction that sickle cell disease requires more than episodic treatment. It requires an accountable and comprehensive system—one that responds rapidly during a pain crisis, supports patients between acute episodes, addresses mental health and social needs, advances research, develops the workforce, informs public policy, and creates meaningful pathways to transformative and curative therapies.