Meet the Doctors and Staff at UPMC's Adult Sickle Cell Disease Program

Our multidisciplinary team provides comprehensive clinical services to help you efficiently manage your sickle cell disease or thalassemia.

We also work very closely with our pediatric partners at the Sickle Cell Program of the UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Dr. Cheryl Hillery and other team members.

Sickle Cell Doctors and Staff

Laura De Castro, MD, MHSc
Hematologist 

Enrico Novelli, MD, MS
Hematologist 

Natasha Sticca-Wright, CRNP
Nurse Practitioner
Natasha work as liaisons between the UPMC sickle cell disease consult service and the internal medicine or subspecialist teams in both clinical and inpatient settings, and in the day hospital.

Jude Jonassaint, RN
Research Nurse

Jude has been coordinating clinical research trials in sickle cell disease for over 13 years, previously at Duke University and since 2014 at UPMC. He has clinical nursing experience in intensive care, surgery and psychiatry and he has become expert in information technology and data analysis in clinical research. Duke University recognized him with the the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award for significant contributions to the community and to those who lead lives of integrity.

Other Members of the Sickle Cell Disease Care Team

Mark Gladwin, MD
Pulmonologist 

Charles Jonassaint, PhD
Clinical Psychologist

Charles Jonassaint, PhD, obtained his PhD from Duke University, and completed his fellowship at Johns Hopkins University. He is devoted to helping patients better manage psychosocial stress, chronic pain and depression. In his present research, he is primarily interested in designing and implementing health IT interventions that will address the chronic health care needs of patients with sickle cell disease and their families.