99 Days for our detractors one day for history
Kirkpatrick Weah
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Hon. Tarue, Thank you for this snap shot of the Doctor's life. This is a remarkable life story, one that covers not only the successes of Dr. Nyan but some of his struggles and personal sacrifices as well. This is truly a life to emulate. Thank you for such a wonderful profile. Maybe the periodic enumeration of the triumphs, contributions and sacrifices of our fellow brothers and sisters might help us see and appreciative them in a whole new way. Dr. Nyan comes from a great family, a compassionate one. I lived with the Nyan family in Zwedru for several years while I attended grade school (Robert Baker Richardson Baptist High). His mother, Madam Joyce Nyan, was our mother. She has a great heart. (Hope she is fine in health.) You should have seen the smile on her face when we met in Philadelphia at the 7th Annual Convention. It was our first meeting since the war had separated us in 1990 in Zwedru.
Wifred Winn VA
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As a student activist and president-elect of the student council of Bishop Juwle High School in 1981, Dougbeh Nyan was one of several student activists who opposed the military decree 2A of the PRC, which banned student elections in institutions of learning throughout Liberia . He was expelled from the Bishop Juwle High School as a graduating senior and was faced with life threatening consequences for violating the military decree. Not discouraged by this event, Dr. Nyan applied and gained admission to the prestigious Monrovia College and Industrial Training School (MC) in Monrovia , from where he graduated in 1983 with awards in Biology and Physics.
In 1984 he matriculated to the Cuttington University College where he was studying Biology and served as General Secretary for the Cuttington University College Students Union (CUCSA). He later transferred to the University of Liberia where he was studying Zoology and Chemistry. At the University of Liberia he was a staunch student activist for democracy against the military dictatorship of the late Samuel Doe. At the same time, Dr. Nyan was Deputy Secretary General of the Liberia National Students Union (LINSU).
During the period of political turbulence in Liberia , Dr. Nyan and other student leaders were responsible for organizing several student demonstrations against the government of Samuel Doe, protesting Executive Order #2, which again banned democratic activities in Liberian schools. Dr. Nyan was arrested along with other student leaders at the St. Peters Lutheran Church in Monrovia by the government, imprisoned and expelled from the University of Liberia in 1988. Faced with security surveillance by the National Security Administration (NSA) of Liberia and constant threats to his life under the dictatorship after he was released from prison, Dr. Nyan managed to escape the country in 1988, evading a travel ban that was place on him. He traveled to Accra, Ghana and then to Europe, where he finally settled in the city of Berlin in Germany, where he lived in exile for the most part of his youthful years.
In Germany , his career began to take off. He was accepted for studies at the Herder Institute of the University of Leipzig, where he complete his premedical and linguistic studies. Dr. Nyan then transferred to the world famous Charite Medizinische Facultat der Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin , where he studied medicine. He graduated with a degree in medicine in 1995. Three years later, in 1998 the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), the world most prestigious biomedical research institution, recruited him to study gastric (stomach) ulcers and the microorganism that causes the disease. During his scientific study of the disease, Dr. Nyan invented a noninvasive diagnostic method that is affordable and safe for patients who suffer from gastric ulcers. This important research findings was published in the September 2004 edition of the journal “Infection and Immunity” of the American Society of Microbiology. Dr. Nyan has made several career advances. At the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center where he also worked, Dr. Nyan conducted a biomedical research studies on the molecular mechanism through which excessive alcohol destroys the human liver. Dr. Nyan also worked at the Dixon Science Research Center of the Morgan State University where he conducts biomedical laboratory research on a protein receptor that plays a crucial role in cancer cells division, in heart and kidney diseases, and in obesity. His research findings were recently published in the journal, “Neuropeptide”.
As an educator, Dr. Nyan made a great contribution to the A.M. Dogliotti College of Medicine of the University of Liberia , where he taught medical Microbiology as a volunteer-unpaid Visiting Professor for a full semester in 2005/2006. As philanthropy, Dr. Nyan established and sponsors the Nyan-Scholarship-Program that provides scholarships to students in Liberia .
Further information about Dr. Nyan’s invention at the NIH is cut and paste below for your reading and information curiosity.
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Methods and Compositions to Detect Nucleic Acid |
Description of Invention:
This technology involves the isolation and identification of Helicobacter within fecal matter. The technology provides for the methods and nucleic acid primer reagents and sequences specific for H. pylori. Specifically, it addresses the identification of the common human species of H. pylori. H. pylori is a major infectious agent of the human gastric intestinal tract, affecting about 50% of the world population with various degrees of severity. H. pylori infection is associated with 95% of duodenal ulcers and 80% of gastric ulcers. Without treatment, 80% of duodenal ulcers will return. Further, gastric ulcers have been linked as precursors to the more life-threatening gastric cancers.
Inventors:
Dougbeh C Nyan (NIDDK)
Patent Status:
HHS, Reference No. E-146-2002/0
Portfolios:
Infectious Diseases
Infectious Diseases - Diagnostics
For Licensing Information Please Contact:
Admin. Licensing Spec-InfectDis
NIH Office of Technology Transfer
6011 Executive Blvd. Suite 325 ,
Rockville , MD 20852
United States
Email: an...@mail.nih.gov
Phone: 301-496-7057
Fax: 301-402-0220
Ref No: 879
Updated: 03/2004