DETROIT - Dr. Charles F. Whitten, a physician, professor and specialist in sickle cell disease, died Aug. 14. He was 86.

Whitten died of complications from multiple myeloma at his home in Detroit, the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America said.

Born in Wilmington, Del., Whitten earned a degree in zoology from the University of Pennsylvania and completed his medical degree at Meharry Medical College.

He joined the Wayne State School of Medicine in 1957 and was chief of pediatrics at Detroit Receiving Hospital, the first black physician to head a department in a Detroit hospital.

In 1971, Whitten helped established the Sickle Cell Detection and Information Center. Also that year, he founded the organization now known as the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, based in Baltimore. He served as president until 1992.

He also organized Wayne State University's Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center and served as its director until 1992.

Whitten was concerned by the lack of black doctors and started a medical school training program in 1969 to recruit minority physicians.