From a mother on a mission
MEET MAPILLAR DAHN-FLEMISTER
to a nationally recognized voice for change
Mapillar Dahn-Flemister is the Founder and CEO of MTS Sickle Cell Foundation, Inc., a national nonprofit organization advancing sickle cell awareness, education, advocacy, research engagement, and direct support for individuals and families affected by sickle cell disease.
What started in 2015 as a mother’s determination to ensure families like hers felt seen, informed, and supported has grown into a multifaceted body of work addressing some of the most persistent challenges facing the sickle cell community—from access to care and clinical research to transportation, education, policy, blood availability, and emerging curative therapies.
Under Mapillar’s leadership, the MTS Sickle Cell Foundation has developed and expanded programs that provide direct assistance to families across the United States, including Rides for Warriors, the Warrior on the Rise Scholarship Program, SickleCare Patient Assistance Program, national education initiatives, community blood drives, and the annual Sickle Cell Disease Therapeutics Summit. The organization’s work has also expanded internationally, with ongoing sickle cell education and community engagement efforts in Liberia.
Mapillar has become a respected voice at the intersection of lived experience, health policy, research, and patient engagement. She has testified before policymakers and regulatory bodies, advised stakeholders across the healthcare and life sciences sectors, contributed to initiatives focused on improving clinical research participation and patient access, and spoken nationally about the realities of living with and caring for those affected by sickle cell disease.
Her advocacy has helped elevate sickle cell disease within policy conversations in Georgia and beyond. In 2026, she was actively engaged in advocacy surrounding Georgia’s Sickle Cell Disease Protection Act, the state’s first comprehensive sickle cell law, while continuing to champion equitable access to treatments, clinical trials, blood products, supportive services, and emerging gene therapies.
Mapillar also brings the patient and caregiver perspective into research and therapeutic development, working with academic institutions, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, healthcare organizations, and community partners to ensure that people affected by sickle cell disease are not simply included in conversations about their care—but meaningfully engaged in shaping them.
Her leadership extends beyond MTS Sickle Cell Foundation. She serves in national and global advisory and advocacy capacities, including leadership within the Sickle Cell Disease Coalition, and has contributed her perspective to organizations and initiatives spanning hematology, health policy, patient engagement, clinical research, and blood health.
At the center of Mapillar’s work remains the same conviction that inspired her advocacy more than a decade ago: people living with sickle cell disease deserve more than awareness. They deserve access, investment, representation, opportunity, and systems designed with their lives in mind.
For Mapillar, this work is deeply personal—but its purpose reaches far beyond her own family. Her mission is to help build a future in which every person affected by sickle cell disease has the resources, care, voice, and opportunity to thrive.