Maureen M Achebe, MD, MPH

Maureen Okam Achebe, MD, MPH is Clinical Director of Hematology Services at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) and an Associate Professor of Medicine and Global Health Equity at Harvard Medical School (HMS). Her area of excellence is Clinical Expertise and Innovation centered on the care of patients with hematologic conditions, sickle cell disease and iron deficiency, in particular and improvement in health equity for instance in individuals with a Duffy-null associated neutrophil count (DANC).

She earned her Bachelor of Medical Science and medical degrees from University of Port Harcourt, Hematology and Medical Oncology training at Yale School of Medicine and a Masters in Public Health at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

As Director of BWH Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center program she is responsible for supervising the health maintenance and acute care of > 200 adult individuals with sickle cell disease (SCD) as well as clinical trials in other research in SCD. She also has a particular interest in iron deficiency, in pregnancy and other situations. As Clinical Director of Hematology services she oversees the clinical operations and implementation of new models of care in patients with non-malignant hematology conditions at BWH and DFCI.

Dr Achebe works with the American Society of Hematology (ASH) to bring hematology care internationally. She is a member of the Consortium of Newborn Screening in Africa (CONSA) currently running a demonstration project of newborn detection and early intervention in SCD in seven African countries – Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia, Nigeria, Uganda and Liberia. She is also associate director of SCD integration for WHO PEN Plus, an integrated care delivery strategy in low to middle income countries.

As part of her health equity work, Dr. Achebe is working on a Doris Duke Foundation sponsored project through ASH to incorporate Duffy-null status into clinical algorithms to improve health equity for Duffy-null individuals. Working with colleagues, she established a reference range for Duffy-null neutrophil count that is operational at BWH.

Dr Achebe is actively involved in teaching residents, fellows and medical students at Harvard Medical School.