Benita Balogun

My research interests primarily focus on the development of new drugs that can be used to treat patients with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD). The goal is for the new drugs to not only alleviate some of the symptoms associated with SCD, but also to combat the primary pathophysiology of the disease, the polymerization of sickle hemoglobin. I perform my research under the mentorship of Dr. Abdulmalik at the Leonard and Madlyn Abramson Pediatric Research Center. With the help of UScholars, I conducted an independent project that utilized medicinal chemistry and structural biology to investigate a promising plant extract SCD-101, that inhibits the polymerization of sickle hemoglobin and acts as both an in-vivo and in-vitro anti-sickling agent.

• PASS Scholar
• Johnson Scholar 
• Researcher at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Hematology Dept.