Coach Drépanothe keys to autonomy
Take control of sickle cell disease, day after day.
A scientific project born from patients' experience. Coach Drépano brings together Trévor, a free health assistant, and support programmes led by expert patients and haematologists. To anticipate crises, prepare every consultation and gain autonomy.
A scientific approach, led by patients.
A scientific project
Every Trévor feature stems from a study published in a peer-reviewed journal, and the whole is undergoing clinical evaluation at Geneva University Hospitals. Content cites its sources and is reviewed by a haematologist. This work rests on ten years of research, on the team's contribution to the Lancet Haematology Commission on sickle cell disease, and on published methods that other teams can reproduce.
Designed and steered by patients
The project is directed by a patient-researcher who lives with sickle cell disease, and the people concerned decided on the features at every step, from needs to mock-ups, tests and content. This participatory design has been formalised and published; it explains why Trévor speaks the language of everyday life.
A concrete benefit, whatever your situation.
Patients
You identify your triggers, prepare your consultations with precise data and carry an emergency card that speeds up your care.
Discover Trévor →Relatives and parents
You learn to recognise warning signs and support your loved one with guidance validated by haematologists, while protecting your own balance.
Discover Drépadémie →Health professionals
You follow your patients between consultations, with their consent, on an interoperable FHIR dashboard, and train your team in one day.
See the training →Trévor
Personal health assistant. In Telegram. Free.
Trévor teaches you the best self-management practices, what to do concretely and how, to live better with sickle cell disease. It draws on the collective intelligence of patients, clinicians and research, and artificial intelligence tailors each piece of advice to your situation. Designed with patients at Geneva University Hospitals. Trévor is opening up to other rare or overlooked diseases, with dedicated profiles for sickle cell disease, thalassaemia, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and malaria, with more to come.
- The habits that work, learned from other patients and validated by clinicians, on hydration, sleep, pain and crisis prevention, each explained step by step.
- A dashboard that speaks to your doctor, with pain, sleep, hydration and treatment day after day, exportable as CSV, JSON and FHIR.
- Immediate, sourced answers to your questions, with referral to your team or the emergency number as soon as a warning sign appears.
- Drépadémie, short training modules with quizzes, reviewed by a haematologist and an expert patient.
- Weekly goal-based coaching, for your health as well as your life projects (studies, work, relationships, family, travel), and a printable care and emergency card.
- Your data under your control, hosted in Europe, with logged access and one-tap deletion.
Trévor complements medical follow-up. Beta version, evaluated at HUG as part of a research project.
Measure, to act in time.
A smartwatch or smart ring records body signals imperceptible in daily life, such as oxygen saturation during sleep, resting heart rate, heart rate variability, sleep duration and quality. Trévor displays them with your thirty-day average and exports them for your doctor. You arrive at your consultation with curves, and interpretation stays with your team.
- Sleep. Duration and regularity of your nights, week after week.
- Oxygen. Night-time saturation, invisible without a sensor, documented for your doctor.
- Heart. Resting heart rate, day after day, to show your team.
- Compatibility. Samsung, Apple, Google, Fitbit, Oura, Garmin, Withings; single-file import or automatic sync.
“My watch revealed night-time hypoxia I knew nothing about. Once documented, it led to home oxygen therapy at night and two portable concentrators, one for home and one for travel. It changed my life.”
Dr David-Z. Issom, HES Professor, founder of Coach Drépano, living with sickle cell disease. Case presented at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH).
One documented case among others; interpreting measurements and any treatment decision remain the responsibility of your medical team.
Why you can trust it.
Every step was carried out with the people concerned, published and evaluated, through work conducted since 2018 between Geneva and the Caribbean.
DREPACOACH, the first support app designed with patients (HUG, University of Geneva).
Publication of Trévor's design and usefulness study in Frontiers in Digital Health.
“Quality of care” project at HUG, with emergency card, educational content and a link to HUG@Home.
Full Trévor and the TREVOR-PILOTE study, measuring usefulness and acceptability among patients followed at HUG.
Three ways to contribute, starting today
Test ahead of release
Early access to new features, confidentiality agreement signed in Trévor.
Take part in the pilot study
The TREVOR-PILOTE pilot study lasts eight weeks; the waiting list is open.
The publications behind Trévor.
The published work behind every feature, so you can check for yourself.
Scientific publications
- Piel FB, Rees DC, DeBaun MR, Nnodu O, Ranque B, Thompson AA, et al. (incl. Issom DZ). Defining global strategies to improve outcomes in sickle cell disease: a Lancet Haematology Commission. Lancet Haematol 2023;10(8):e633-e686. doi:10.1016/S2352-3026(23)00096-0
- Issom DZ, Hardy-Dessources MD, Romana M, Hartvigsen G, Lovis C. Toward a conversational agent to support the self-management of adults and young adults with sickle cell disease: usability and usefulness study. Frontiers in Digital Health 2021;3:600333. doi:10.3389/fdgth.2021.600333
- Issom DZ, Henriksen A, Woldaregay AZ, Rochat J, Lovis C, Hartvigsen G. Factors influencing motivation and engagement in mobile health among patients with sickle cell disease in low-prevalence, high-income countries: qualitative exploration of patient requirements. JMIR Human Factors 2020;7(1):e14599. doi:10.2196/14599
- Issom DZ, Rochat J, Hartvigsen G, Lovis C. Preliminary evaluation of a mHealth coaching conversational artificial intelligence for the self-care management of people with sickle-cell disease. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics 2020;270:1361-1362. doi:10.3233/SHTI200442
- Issom DZ, Zosso A, Ehrler F, Wipfli R, Lovis C, Koch S. Exploring the challenges and opportunities of eHealth tools for patients with sickle cell disease. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics 2015;216:898.
493 citations, h-index 9 (Google Scholar, September 2026) · PubMed · Google Scholar
All publications, by theme
Sickle cell disease and digital self-management (9)
- Piel FB, Rees DC, DeBaun MR, et al. (incl. Issom DZ). Defining global strategies to improve outcomes in sickle cell disease: a Lancet Haematology Commission. Lancet Haematol 2023;10(8):e633-e686. doi:10.1016/S2352-3026(23)00096-0
- Issom DZ. Digital health interventions to empower people with sickle cell disease: toward patient-led design. In Sickle Cell Disease, IntechOpen, 2022.
- Issom DZ, Hardy-Dessources MD, Romana M, Hartvigsen G, Lovis C. Toward a conversational agent to support the self-management of adults and young adults with sickle cell disease: usability and usefulness study. Frontiers in Digital Health 2021;3:600333. doi:10.3389/fdgth.2021.600333
- Issom DZ, Henriksen A, Woldaregay AZ, Rochat J, Lovis C, Hartvigsen G. Factors influencing motivation and engagement in mobile health among patients with sickle cell disease in low-prevalence, high-income countries. JMIR Human Factors 2020;7(1):e14599. doi:10.2196/14599
- Issom DZ, Rochat J, Hartvigsen G, Lovis C. Preliminary evaluation of a mHealth coaching conversational artificial intelligence for the self-care management of people with sickle-cell disease. Stud Health Technol Inform 2020;270:1361-1362. doi:10.3233/SHTI200442
- Issom DZ, Kanter J. Mind over matter: one person's journey from patient to change-maker. The Hematologist 2018;15(5).
- Issom DZ, Hartvigsen G, Bonacina S, Koch S, Lovis C. User-centric eHealth tool to address the psychosocial effects of sickle cell disease. Stud Health Technol Inform 2016;225:627-628.
- Issom DZ, et al. Meeting sickle cell patients' unmet needs with eHealth tools: a preliminary study. Scandinavian Conference on Health Informatics, 2015.
- Issom DZ, Zosso A, Ehrler F, Wipfli R, Lovis C, Koch S. Exploring the challenges and opportunities of eHealth tools for patients with sickle cell disease. Stud Health Technol Inform 2015;216:898.
Engagement, personal data and mobile health (6)
- Woldaregay AZ, Issom DZ, Henriksen A, et al. Motivational factors for user engagement with mHealth apps. Stud Health Technol Inform 2018;249:151-157.
- Woldaregay AZ, Henriksen A, Issom DZ, et al. User expectations and willingness to share self-collected health data. Stud Health Technol Inform 2020;270:894-898. doi:10.3233/SHTI200290
- Bradway M, Woldaregay AZ, Issom DZ, et al. mHealth: where is the potential for aiding informal caregivers? Stud Health Technol Inform 2021;281:885-890. doi:10.3233/SHTI210306
- Henriksen A, Issom DZ, Woldaregay AZ, et al. Dataset of motivational factors for using mobile health applications and systems. Data in Brief 2023;50:109589. doi:10.1016/j.dib.2023.109589
- Rochat J, Gaudet-Blavignac C, Del Zotto M, et al. (incl. Issom D). Citizens' participation in health and scientific research in Switzerland. Stud Health Technol Inform 2020;270:1098-1102. doi:10.3233/SHTI200332
- Issom DZ, et al. Mobile applications for people with diabetes published between 2010 and 2015. Diabetes Management 2015;5(6).
Public health and non-communicable diseases (2)
- Sureshkumar S, Mwangi KJ, Gathecha G, et al. (incl. Issom D). Exploring key-stakeholder perceptions on non-communicable disease care during the COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya. Pan Afr Med J 2023;44:153. doi:10.11604/pamj.2023.44.153.38616
- Sureshkumar S, Mustapha F, Yusoff H, et al. (incl. Issom D). An online survey of the perceptions of clinical and non-clinical professionals on healthcare for non-communicable diseases and COVID-19 measures during the pandemic in Malaysia. Int J Public Health 2023;68:1605861. doi:10.3389/ijph.2023.1605861
Hospital medical informatics and the transfusion chain (5)
- Albadri R, Perelli I, Freitas F, Waldvogel S, Issom DZ. Designing an interoperable intelligent agent for the blood transfusion chain in Geneva, Switzerland. Stud Health Technol Inform 2026;336:428-432. doi:10.3233/SHTI260191
- Bouzo Cueva J, Perelli I, Freitas F, Waldvogel S, Issom DZ. Designing a digital twin for equitable blood donation logistics in Geneva. Stud Health Technol Inform 2026;336:1795-1796. doi:10.3233/SHTI260538
- Lovis C, Gaudet-Blavignac C, Chevrier R, Robert A, Issom D, Foufi V. Big data, intelligence artificielle et blockchain pour les nuls. Rev Med Suisse 2018;14(617):1559-1563.
- Issom DZ, Hagry C, Wodia Mendo L, Seng H, Ehrler F, Lovis C. Challenges and issues of geolocation in clinical environment. Stud Health Technol Inform 2012;180:447-451.
- Ehrler F, Issom D, Lovis C. Technological choices for mobile clinical applications. Stud Health Technol Inform 2011;169:83-87.
Awards and media
Dalle Molle Foundation “Quality of Life” award
Trevor, the sickle cell coach, distinguished in the Dalle Molle Foundation's 2021 quality-of-life competition.
“The Trevor project awarded”, Geneva University Hospitals
HUG institutional news on the award and the project.
Planète Santé, interview, 1 March 2023
“Innovations must take the world as it is into account”, by Laetitia Grimaldi.
Pulsations, the HUG magazine, April 2025
“I always wanted to understand my disease”, by Geneviève Ruiz.
RTS, CQFD, 23 June 2026
“Sickle cell disease: living with a genetic blood disorder”, with Dr Lara Chavaz.
Programmes and training.
Programmes led by expert patients and haematologists, for people living with the disease, their relatives, care teams and future expert patients. Every enrolment is paid to the Trévor project at HES-SO Geneva and funds the assistant's development, its free access for patients, the remuneration of expert patients and the clinical evaluation.
Fewer crises, with a plan that fits you
In six weeks, you leave with your own prevention strategy, your triggers identified and your reflexes for pain, built with an expert patient who lives with the disease.
You meet your expert patient for six 45-minute video sessions. Each session is prepared, then summarised in writing, and your goals are tracked in Trévor between sessions. A haematologist supervises the whole programme.
Understand the disease to decide with your doctors
By the end of the programme, you can explain your disease, anticipate a crisis, prepare a consultation and defend your rights, surrounded by a group that stays in touch afterwards.
The programme runs over eight weeks, with one module per week and a live workshop with an expert patient and a haematologist. A private discussion group supports your progress, and a certificate concludes the course.
Manage sickle cell disease with confidence
Your team recognises acute chest syndrome, treats pain according to guidelines on arrival, supports the paediatric-to-adult transition and knows which digital tools to offer.
The training takes place over one day, in your unit. The programme alternates clinical cases, applied pathophysiology and motivational interviewing, and concludes with a continuing education certificate. Participation costs 590 CHF per person, or 3 900 CHF for a team of up to ten people.
Turn your experience into a paid skill
You run workshops and support other patients within Coach Drépano programmes and partner centres, paid for each session.
The training comprises forty hours spread over three months, followed by a supervised facilitation placement within the Coach Drépano programmes. It concludes with the Coach Drépano expert patient certificate.
Solidarity rate of 50% for members of the Swiss Sickle Cell Association without income or on disability insurance, on request. Payment in three interest-free instalments by bank transfer.