Elenoe "Crew" Smith

Elenoe “Crew” Smith has dedicated herself to addressing and researching sickle cell disease (SCD) ever since she was in middle school. Sickle cell disease is predominantly found in individuals of African descent, and Smith says that while growing up in the Virgin Islands she knew more people that had SCD than cancer. Smith started her career as a researcher at Boston Children's Hospital, and she's now creating treatments for SCD as a director at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. So far, Smith is researching potential small molecules in pursuit of creating accessible medicines and therapies to address SCD. “I'm just excited that so many worlds are waking up and realizing that this is an important health problem,” Smith tells Fortune. Because the disease mostly affects Black individuals, there have been some social determinants and structural racism that stalled progress in treating SCD. But Smith adds that she’s seeing more momentum in the patient, scientific, and policy communities toward finding equitable care and conducting in-depth research.