A Conversation With Griffin Rodgers

Beginning in the mid-1980s, Dr. Griffin Rodgers, Director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) at the National Institutes of Health, led studies demonstrating the effectiveness of the drug hydroxyurea, the first FDA-approved drug for sickle cell disease. Since then, Rodgers (Figure 1) has worked on transplant strategies and therapies for sickle cell disease and other hemoglobinopathies while also taking on massive leadership and administrative roles at the NIH, culminating in his appointment to the directorship of the NIDDK in 2007. See the JCI website (https://www.jci.org/videos/cgms) to hear about how Malcolm Gladwell and Howard Hughes played a role in sickle cell anemia and why it's fitting to study hematology at a diabetes- and kidney-focused institute. JCI: Can we hear a little about your family and what you were like as a kid? Rodgers: I was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. I went to school in the sixties and seventies. My mother was a public health nurse, and my father was a high school science and public health teacher. And as a kid, I was studious. I wasn't very tall, and therefore I gravitated towards academic sports. But specifically, my interests really focused on math and science, areas that I had an affinity for. At an early age, I sealed my interest in medicine. [...]