Coach DrépanoCoach Drépanothe keys to autonomy

A team that knows the disease from the inside.

“Since I was very young, I wanted to understand my disease and I took an active part in my treatments.”

Prof. David-Z. Issom, in Pulsations, the HUG magazine, April 2025.

A word from the founder

I owe my life to the blood transfusions (red cell exchanges) I receive every five to seven weeks. Then, at the end of 2023, blood compatible with my phenotype ran out for six months.

My body gave way, a major crisis broke out and I came close to dying, so this project stopped with me for two and a half years.

Today I write these lines first thanks to anonymous blood donors, who gave their blood at the moment it became vital, then thanks to the HUG teams, from the hyperbaric chamber to haematology, through anaesthesia, internal medicine and intermediate care, who held on with me to the end.

The rest I owe to a long habit of understanding my disease and to unshakeable stubbornness. To each and every one of you, thank you. Now Coach Drépano is back with energy.

Dr David-Z. Issom, patient researcher and founder of Coach Drépano.

Content funded by foundations and public institutions, independently of the pharmaceutical industry.

Dr David-Z. Issom, professor of applied sciences

Scientific lead

  • Teaches business informatics at HEG-Genève, and global health and medical informatics at the University of Geneva.
  • Medical informatics researcher at the Geneva University Hospitals.
  • PhD in biomedical sciences, global health track (University of Geneva, 2021, summa cum laude).
  • Graduate in medical informatics from the Karolinska Institute (Stockholm).

Commitments

  • Co-president of the Association Suisse Drépano.
  • Founding member of the European Sickle Cell Federation (ESCF).
  • Alternate member of the Geneva cantonal commission for patients' rights (2018-2025).
  • Co-author of the 2023 Lancet Haematology Commission on sickle cell disease.

HUG clinical haematology unit

Medical validation of content, care and emergency cards, teleconsultations.

Swiss Sickle Cell Association

Patient association: it trains expert patients and runs the support programmes.

Give blood in Switzerland
Academic originBorn from its founder's doctoral thesis in global health at the University of Geneva, developed at the HUG Division of Medical Information Sciences.
Scientific networkEvaluated with patients in the French Caribbean together with Inserm and the CAREST Caribbean network; educational content enriched by RoFSED and the MCGRE rare disease network (France).