Dr. Taneisha Gillyard Cheairs to lead translational study exploring sickle cell disease–linked protection against fibroid growth
Nashville, Tenn. — March 11, 2026
Meharry Medical College is pleased to announce that Dr. Taneisha Gillyard Cheairs, Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, School of Graduate Studies and Founding Director of the Meharry DNA Learning Center, has been awarded a $170,000 grant from the Foundation for Women’s Health. Dr. Gillyard Cheairs was selected as one of the Foundation’s 2026 grantees, and the her proposal received overwhelming, universal support from the Foundation’s Medical Advisory Board.
The Foundation for Women’s Health (https://www.foundationwomenshealth.org) supports research that improves women’s health outcomes across the life course and advancing early‑career investigators pursuing high‑impact, translational science.The Foundation’s mission has also gained national visibility through partnerships with global advocates such as Academy Award-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o, who has worked with the organization to raise awareness about underfunded conditions affecting women, such as uterine fibroids.
Dr. Taneisha Gillyard Cheairs commented, “I am deeply honored to receive this support from the Foundation for Women’s Health. This funding will allow my team to investigate biological mechanisms that could lead to non‑invasive strategies to prevent and treat uterine fibroids for women everywhere.”
The funded project is titled “Discovering Protective Factors Against Uterine Fibroids in Women with Sickle Cell Disease: Pathways Toward Non‑Invasive Therapies for All Women at Risk.” The study leverages a paradoxical epidemiologic observation that women with sickle cell disease (SCD) have reduced uterine fibroid prevalence and seeks to define endogenous biological pathways that suppress fibroid initiation and growth. Uterine fibroids (leiomyomas) are the most common benign tumors in women and a leading cause of gynecologic morbidity across the reproductive lifespan. The team integrates clinical data, molecular profiling, and genomic analysis to map the uterine environment and immune‑metabolic landscape to identify proteins that stimulate or prevent uterine fibroid growth. Such findings could serve as biomarkers and mechanisms that may inform future precision-based, non-surgical therapies.
Dr. Leslie Appiah and Dr. Merry Lindsey serve as mentors on the project. Co‑investigators include Dr. Pamela Martin and Dr. Amadou Gaye; and consultants are Dr. Anthony Archibong and Dr. Maria Aguinaga. The Foundation expressed excitement to support this critical work with this award at a time the world needs it most.
Dr. Leslie Appiah commented “This research addresses a critical and understudied intersection of sickle cell disease and uterine fibroids. Meharry Medical College is uniquely positioned to carry out this work because of our clinical partnerships and commitment to community‑engaged, ancestry‑informed research.”
Media inquiries: Jolene Freeman, Office of Communications, Meharry Medical College; jolene.freeman@mmc.edu; 404-456-8371 High‑resolution image of Dr. Gillyard Cheairs available upon request.
