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A Young Mississippi Woman's Journey Through A Pioneering Gene-Editing Experiment
When Victoria Gray was just 3 months old, her family discovered something was terribly wrong.
"My grandma was giving me a bath, and I was crying. So they took me to the emer- gency room to get me checked out," Gray says. "That's when they found out that I was having my first cri- sis."
It was Gray's first sickle cell crisis. These episodes are one of the worst things about sickle cell disease, a common and often devastating genetic blood disorder. People with the condition regularly suffer sudden, excruciating bouts of pain.
"Sometimes it feels like lightning strikes in my chest — and real sharp pains all over. And it's a deep pain. I can't touch it and make it better," says Gray. "Some- times, I will be just balled up
Victoria Gray, who has sickle cell disease, volun- teered for one of the most an- ticipated medical experiments in decades: the first attempt to use the gene-editing technique CRISPR to treat a genetic dis- order in the United States.
and crying, not able to do anything for myself.
Gray is now 34 and lives in Forest, Miss. She volun- teered to become the first pa-
tient in the United States with a genetic disease to get treated with the revolution- ary gene-editing technique known as CRISPR.
NPR got exclusive access to chronicle Gray's journey through this medical experi- ment, which is being watched closely for some of the first hints that changing a person's genes with CRISPR could provide a powerful new way to treat many diseases.
"This is both enormously exciting for sickle cell disease and for all those other condi- tions that are next in line," says Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National In- stitutes of Health.
"To be able to take this new technology and give people a chance for a new life is a dream come true," Collins says. "And here we are."
Black Woman Given Drastic Prison Sentence For Selling Drugs Released
Tanesha Bannister
spent nearly two decades in federal prison, but Wednes- day was the first time in 16 years she was able to hold her grandson on Christmas Day. In a radio interview with WBUR, the South Carolina native told her story and ex- plained what life has been like since her release in May.
Bannister is part of a gen- eration of Black women and men harshly sentenced under the "100-to-1" laws.
The stark discrepancies in sentencing, which led to hun- dreds of thousands of life sen- tences countrywide over the last three decades, was only addressed in 2010 by the Fair Sentencing Act. The First Step Act, signed into law by Pres- ident Trump in December 2018, retroactively applied the new sentences in the Fair Sentencing Act to cases like Bannister's.
After being arrested in 2002, the 43-year-old mother of two was given a life sen- tence on a charge of conspir- acy to sell 50 grams of crack and 5 kilos or more of co- caine. Her children were 8 and 10 years old when she first went to prison.
She filed an appeal, and in 2008, had her sentence re- duced to 23 years. Once the First Step Act came into ef- fect, she was released in May along with more than 3,000
others.
"It is such an exciting time
in my life. To be able to sit down at a table with family and friends after so long and enjoy Christmas with them and my 2-year-old grandson, is a feeling that is indescrib- able, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world," she told WBUR.
"It's such a relief, not just to myself but to my family and friends. As you know, things trickle down, when things happen to one person in a family. It was like my family was doing time. It was a great relief when I got im- mediate release on May 1. I'm grateful for the First Step Act and the ones that played an intricate part in making it happen," she said, adding that the first thing she wanted to do was see her kids and hold her grandson.
Since her release, Ban- nister has tried her hand at cosmetology but has moved on to become a personal care assistant for the elderly and disabled.
In October, she spoke on stage after an introduction by President Trump at the 20/20 Bipartisan Justice Center's Symposium in South Carolina, thanking both par- ties for putting their griev- ances aside and getting the desperately-needed law passed.
TANESHA BANNISTER
Twitter Content Chief Kay Madati Is Exiting
Kay Madati, Twitter’s global VP, head of content partnerships, is departing the social network after two years in the job.
Madati announced in a series of tweets that his last day at Twitter was Dec. 13. “I have made the difficult and personal decision to move on from this extraordinary and wonderful company,” he wrote.
Madati said he didn’t have any plans right now for what he’ll be doing next.
“It has been a fast and fu- rious sprint over my tenure here, and for me, in both my life, and at the pinnacle of success that we have collec- tively achieved as a business, now seems a good time pass the baton, and allow this team to drive the business forward without me,” Ma- dati wrote in the thread.
Madati has overseen the
KAY MADATI
company’s worldwide efforts to engage with media and content publishers across TV, film, music, sports, news, lifestyle, and influencers.
Matt Derella, Twitter’s global VP, customers, will step in to assume the role of head of global content part- nerships on an interim basis. Madati has reported to
Derella, who will lead the effort to find a new exec to head the content team. Derella leads Twitter’s cus- tomer-facing operations, overseeing the company’s ad revenue organizations in- cluding global advertising sales, global content partner- ships, live content and rev- enue operations, and customer experience.
Derella, in his own tweets about Madati’s departure, thanked Madati for his work and wrote, “You have been a true partner to me, and the Customers team, and our content partners around the world.”
Madati joined Twitter in September 2017. Previously, he was BET Networks’ chief digital officer and before that was head of entertainment and media on Facebook’s global marketing solutions team.
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