Dr. Hadiyah Nicole Green is accustomed to breaking down barriers and pushing science to the limits. In 2005 she became one of the first African American women to earn a PhD. in physics. She is now the first person to cure cancer in mice using laser technology.
Her journey in science is personal, and she continues to bring that passion to the NGO she founded called The Ora Lee Cancer Research Foundation. The purpose of her foundation is to discover and invent noninvasive cancer treatments for detecting and treating the disease, as well as creating access to cancer treatment for the average person.
Her career has proved to be beyond interdisciplinary with her work in physics and medicine. At just 39, she is currently an assistant professor a Morehouse School of Medicine, where she continues to search for the cure and work towards applying her research with mice to humans.
In 2016, she was listed in Ebony Magazine's List of 100 Most Influential African Americans, and in 2019 she made the Forbes Business Insider Top 30 Under 40 In Healthcare.
What Makes Her Work Personal
In college, Dr. Green proudly served as Miss Alabama A&M Univeristy 2002-03, amidst changing her major three times, and finally settling on physics.
Raised by her aunt, Ora Lee Smith, and uncle, General Lee Smith in St. Louis, the family celebrated her achievement as a first-generation college graduate. The happiness was overshadowed by grave news, that her aunt was dying of cancer. Her aunt Ora lee didn't tell anyone for eight years and refused to go through chemotherapy because of the effects on her quality of life.
After her aunt's death, her uncle was also diagnosed. He chose to go through the therapy, but the family then understood why her aunt had refused, it completely took her uncle from them. He wasn't the same person, she said to NBC News, she finally understood why her aunt had refused to take treatments.
The people who raised her had both been taken by cancer, with different confounding problems. Being a scientist, Hadiyha Green went on to become Dr. Hadiyah Green with a PhD. in physics from Alabama Brigham University, to then study how lasers can be used to treat cancer cells.
Her Research
Science is interdisciplinary, but Dr. Green takes it to the next level. Her research is in, get ready, physics, nanotherapy, immunotherapy and precision medicine. In layman's terms, she uses lasers to create medical treatments for cancer.
While studying, she became interested in nanotechnology, meaning lasers. The problem with cancer treatments is they don't just target cancer cells, they affect healthy cells too. Folks who are going through chemo and radiation therapies become sick, not necessarily from cancer, but from the treatments.
These were the reasons the late Ora Lee Smith did not want to go through treatment, and what her late husband learned the hard way. They are two of millions of people around the world who have struggled with these decisions.
Dr. Green developed a laser that only targets cancer cells, it doesn't harm the healthy cells, in mice. She became the first person to successfully treat cancer with laser technology. While currently this technology isn't tested in humans, the applications are immense for folks with cancer and their families.
Founder of NGO, Ora Lee Smith Cancer Research Foundation
Medical treatments are expensive, according to the American Cancer Society, cancer patients in the U.S. paid $4 billion dollars out of pocket for treatments in 2014. Dr. Green said in an interview that she won't sell her technology to a pharmaceutical company, she wants it to be accessible to the average person.
She founded the NGO Ora Lee Smith Cancer Research Foundation, in honor of her late aunt, and to fund clinical trials of her technology. Her platform is 4 in 1, meaning detection, imaging, targeting and selecting treatment, specifically in head and neck cancers.
Based on her own family's experience, she is determined to make cancer treatment that is affordable, accessible, efficient, and less invasive. She doesn't want folks to lose their family members to treatment, or cancer.
She is well on her way, after receiving a $1.1 million dollar grant to continue her research. Although, she is still raising the funds to fully launch clinical trials and take her technology to the next level. There is no doubt that Dr. Green will achieve great things for the science and cancer community.
She is a trailblazer, which is recognized by global STEM leaders, media and influencers. In an interview, she recognized that as one of the leaders in biomedicine and physics, and one of few Black women in her field, she proudly represents her community.
Time and time again throughout her interdisciplinary work as a scientist and humanitarian, she adds more and more firsts to her list of accomplishments. Follow her on Instagram, or visit her NGO's website to see what's up next for Dr. Green and the Ora lee Smith Cancer Research Foundation.
