Making Sickle Cell Disease A Priority With Tamika Smith

Vitamin SC3

The VitaminSC3 Podcast is powered by the Sickle Cell Community Consortium. Today's show is brought to you by the Caring is Giving segment with Elle Cole. Today's conversation touches on caregiving from a sibling's perspective and how one reporter is making sickle cell a priority in the media.

About Tamika Smith
Tamika Smith had a sister who lived with sickle cell disease. She grew up being a caregiver for her sister. Recently, she worked on a dynamic story about sickle cell disease for WAMU 88.5. Multiple outlets shared the feature, such as New treatments are offering hope to sickle cell disease patients, 'My kids are in pain now and need relief now:' how local families cope with sickle cell disease, and How families of color in the D.C. area cope with sickle cell disease. She is also the Weekend Edition host for WAMU. With experience as a host for WAMU and producer for the nationally acclaimed Russ Parr Morning Show, she helped to spearhead and launch Question of the Day with Murray and Tamika, an award-winning interactive trivia game on Amazon Alexa.

During her award-winning career, she has hosted, produced, and reported on a variety of teams, including NPR’s Tell Me More with Michel Martin, Radio One’s Keepin’ It Real with Al Sharpton, WPFW’s Pacifica Radio Network, and TV’s One’s Quiet on the Set with Mary Major. Smith was previously the executive producer for The Big Picture with Olivier Knox, a daily political news program on SiriusXM’s POTUS Channel 124. The non-partisan program offered insight into DC’s most influential voices who help shape the nation’s political landscape. Before that, Smith was a Managing Editor for AOL’s Patch.com.

Smith graduated from Howard University in 2007 with a concentration in broadcast journalism and theater arts.

Shareable quote
There is a lot of education that needs to come around for sickle cell disease. There is a lot of education that needs to happen in the medical community and a lot of myth-busting.

Today's Topic: Making Sickle Cell Disease A Priority With Tamika Smith
Here are the questions we chatted about during our discussion:

1. Why do you think the world needs to learn about Sickle Cell Disease (SCD)?
2. Did you learn anything new about Sickle Cell Disease while you were working on this news story?
3. What impact do you want your NPR story to have on the sickle community and the broader community at large?
4. What type of feedback have you received regarding the feature?
5. Was there anything that didn't make the news cut that you wish the public was aware of?
6. What role do you think the media plays in health care and health equity?
7. Is there anything else you'd like to share?

Follow Tamika Smith
Instagram: @tamikanews
Website: https://wamu.org/person/tamika_smith/
Twitter: @TamikaNews

Follow Elle Cole
Instagram: @CleverlyChanging
Website: https://CleverlyChanging.com
Twitter: @CleverlyChangin
Facebook: @CleverlyChanging

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The next episode of the Vitamin SC3 Podcast drops on Monday

Please tune in next week for a new episode we will be hearing from the segment Essential RX with Dr. Lametra Scott .

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