Announcing the passing of Carol Ossai, the interim Chair of the Board of Directors, Global Alliance of Sickle Cell Disease Organizations (GASCDO).
It is with utmost sorrow and much sadness that we announce the passing of Carol Ossai, which occurred on Friday, April 10th, 2020.
Carol’s passion to advocate for the improvement of care and treatment for people living with SCD started in 1996, after her son living with SCD suffered a stroke. This initiated the formation of the Sickle Cell and Young Stroke Survivors -a UK charity supporting children, young people and their families in the UK and Africa.
From this period on, Carol dedicated her life to Sickle Cell Advocacy leaving behind her career in Food and Consumer studies.
Carol also founded the Sickle Cell in Africa Patient Parent Network (SCAPPN)- a network of patients and parents directly affected by SCD that led grassroot initiatives in Africa.
In 2019, Carol became a founding member and was later elected as the interim chair for GASCDO, a recently initiated global sickle cell disease (SCD) patient organization dedicated to inspiring hope and improving the quality of life of all people with SCD worldwide.
An Eupati Alumna, Carol was an expert in patient/parent advocacy, public speaking and was an EUPATI Fellow with a keen interest in research and development of drugs for rare diseases. Carol was a selected reviewer with the European Medicines Agency and a selected member of the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) pool of expert patients.
GASCDO extends its condolences to the family members that Carol left behind and to the global SCD community.
We believe that Carol would want us to continue working steadfastly in servicing the global sickle cell community as she wholeheartedly did all through her life path. Carol’s positivity, compassion and resilience will remain a guiding legacy for all of us in GASCDO and for generations of SCD people to come.
Released by: GASCDO on April 12th, 2020.
