Over the past 31 years, Dr. Lori Vick performed nursing care in small community and university hospital settings and nursing education in private and public academic settings. She has developed expertise in the following specialties: mental health, medical-surgical, oncology, intensive care, and nursing education.

Currently, Dr. Vick is a nursing researcher and educator in the College of Nursing at the University of South Carolina. Her program of research is focused on improving health outcomes in persons with sickle cell disease (SCD). Clinical practice in psychiatric mental health nursing and a synthesis of research literature identified behavioral variables that have been used to guide her recent work in medication adherence and the use of motivational interviewing with persons with SCD.

In her educator role she uses metacognition, backward design, and case-based discussions with the goal of maximizing self-awareness, self-managed learning and reflection on strategies affecting the learning process.

Dr. Vick has conducted and analyzed over 500 interviews with people with SCD and recognizes listening to the voices of people with SCD offers a pathway to improve understanding of the complexities of chronic disease management from a person-centered perspective.

Dr. Jaja is a board certified Psychiatric and Mental Health Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner. Dr. Jaja research interests are sickle cell disease analgesic pharmacogenetics. He currently holds leadership positions in the International Society of Nurses in Genetics, the International Association of Sickle Cell Nurses and Physician Assistants and is a member of the American Society of Hematology Sickle Cell Disease Coalition Group. Dr. Jaja is currently involved in sickle cell disease health systems strengthening and capacity building as a United States Department Fulbright Scholar at the University of Sierra Leone College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences.