Victoria Gray is a mother of four from Forest, Mississippi, who in 2019 became the first patient with sickle cell disease to be treated with CRISPR gene editing. After a lifetime of pain and suffering caused by the disease, she has lived free of vaso-occlusive crises since the treatment. Today, she works full-time, enjoys family activities, and has been invited to speak nationally and internationally about her experience receiving the revolutionary gene-editing technique to treat a previously untreatable disease.

Gray briefed National Press Foundation fellows in November 2023: Conquering Sickle Cell with CRISPR: Victoria Gray’s Story. She also briefed NPF fellows in November 2025: From Agony to Advocacy: Victoria Gray’s Post-CRISPR Journey. Check out the Rare Disease Reporting Guide.