Hadiyah-Nicole Green

Hadiyah-Nicole Green is an American medical physicist known for her development of a process that has the potential to help in the evolution of a novel cancer treatment using laser-activated nanoparticles.[1][2][3] She is one of 66 black women to earn a Ph.D. in physics in the United States between 1973 and 2012,[4] and is the second black woman and the fourth black person ever to earn a doctoral degree in physics from The University of Alabama at Birmingham.[5]

Dr.

Hadiyah-Nicole Green
Born
St. Louis, Missouri, United States
Alma materAlabama A&M University
University of Alabama
Known forCancer therapy, precision medicine, immunotherapy, nanotechnology
AwardsKey to the City and the Historic Icon Award, City of Selma, Alabama;

Research Advocate of the Year Award, Southern Company and Perennial Strategy Group;
Distinguished Trailblazer Award, The National Coalition of 100 Black Women;
Trailblazer of the Year Award, 100 Black Men of America;
2016 Root 100, The Root magazine;

2016 Power 100 as one of the “100 Most Influential African Americans” in the United States, Ebony magazine
Scientific career
FieldsMedical physics
InstitutionsMorehouse School of Medicine

Early life and education

Green was orphaned at a young age and raised by her aunt and uncle in St. Louis, Missouri.[6] She was the first in her family to attend college.[7]

After her high school graduation, Green attended a summer program in computer science at Xavier University of Louisiana.[7] She received a full academic scholarship to Alabama A&M University, where she earned her bachelor's degree in Physics with a specialization in Optics and a minor in Mathematics in 2003.[7][8] She has spoken about how her experiences at Xavier and Alabama A&M led her to become a strong advocate for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) by giving her a chance to get to know herself and develop as her own person.[7]

Green continued her education at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she earned her M.Sc. in Physics in 2009 and her Ph.D. in Physics in 2012.[8] Her thesis, "A Minimally-Invasive Multifunctional Nano-Enabled Approach for Selective Targeting, Imaging, and NIR Photothermal Therapy of Tumors", was supervised by Sergey B. Mirov.

Career and research

Shortly after she graduated from Alabama A&M, Green learned that Ora Lee Smith, the aunt who'd raised her, had been diagnosed with female reproductive cancer. Fearing the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation, her aunt chose to forgo treatment. Green cared for her aunt in the last three months of her life. Following her aunt's death in 2005, her uncle General Lee Smith, was also diagnosed with cancer. While tending to her uncle, Green watched as her uncle suffered from the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation, which, to her, seemed little better than what her aunt went through. These experiences led to Green's interest in developing new cancer treatments.

It was after an internship at NASA that Green realized that lasers were capable of so much more and significant to cancer research.[9] She wanted to use her background in lasers to target cancerous cells without hurting healthy cells.[10] Specifically, lasers are used to "illuminate" the nanoparticles so that they luminesce in order to create an image of cancerous cells and decrease the amount of time it takes to target these cells.[11][12]

While conducting her doctoral research, Green was a member of the team that developed a laboratory method to insert nanoparticles into cancer cells while avoiding surrounding healthy cells. The tissue incorporating the nanoparticles heats up due to directed laser radiation, which then destroys the cancer cells.[13] She first tested her ideas with cancer cells in a petri dish, then moved on to small animal models using mice. Her current research efforts seek to extend this nanoparticle treatment to humans.[14]

Following graduate school, Green became an assistant professor at Tuskegee University in the Department of Material Science and Engineering.[15] In 2016 she was recruited to Morehouse School of Medicine in the Department of Surgery and received a $1.1 million grant from the Veterans Affairs Historically Black Colleges and Universities Research Scientist Training Program to advance her laser treatment.[16][17]

In 2016, Green founded the Ora Lee Smith Cancer Research Foundation in memory of her aunt.[18] The goal of the foundation is to advance cancer treatment so that it is effective with minimal side effects. The non-profit foundation also aims to make cancer treatment accessible and affordable for all.[19]

Green dedicates much of her spare time to speaking to and mentoring young black students.

References
  1. "Black female physicist pioneers technology that kills cancer cells with lasers". Women in the World in Association with The New York Times - WITW. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
  2. "Alabama scientist, one of nation's few black female physicists, breaks ground in cancer research". AL.com. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
  3. Brueck, Hilary (September 20, 2017), "Here's Why They Put A Bunch Of Women On The Ceiling At Grand Central Terminal", Forbes
  4. "In 39 years, US physics doctorates went to 66 black women—and 22,000 white men". qz.com. Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  5. "UAB - Civil Rights Movement - Hadiyah-Nicole Green". uab.edu. Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  6. "A Story of Perseverance: Hadiyah-Nicole Green Shares Her Path to a Million-Dollar Research Grant". The Root. January 9, 2016. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
  7. Al Elliott (2016-07-19), SOLE and Dr. Hadiyah-Nicole Green, retrieved 2017-02-22
  8. "Dr. Hadiyah-Nicole Green2". www.tuskegee.edu. Archived from the original on 2016-08-08. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
  9. Helmer, Lauren. "Dr. Hadiyah-Nicole Green: FACES of the South". StyleBlueprint.
  10. "STEM Gem Changing the Cancer Game: Dr. Hadiyah-Nicole Green". STEM Gems.
  11. "Black Doctor Pioneers Groundbreaking Cancer Treatment". News One. 10 September 2016. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
  12. Floyd, Safon. "Dr. Hadiyah-Nicole Green Sprinkles Black Girl Magic on Cancer Research". www.blackenterprise.com.
  13. "Gold Nanorod Bioconjugates for Active Tumor Targeting and Photothermal Therapy". Journal of Nanotechnology. 2011: 1–7. doi:10.1155/2011/631753.
  14. Bama, East Texas (9 September 2016). "Hadiyah-Nicole Green seeks support for BioTech cancer hack to see light of day". Rolling Out.
  15. "STEM Gem Changing the Cancer Game: Dr. Hadiyah-Nicole Green".
  16. "Dr. Hadiyah-Nicole Green Brings Cancer Fighting Laser to Morehouse School of Medicine". www.msm.edu.
  17. "Hadiyah-Nicole Green Targets Cancer With Lasers". The Scientist Magazine®. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  18. "Black Doctor Pioneers Groundbreaking Cancer Treatment". News One. 10 September 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
  19. "About – Ora Lee Smith Cancer Research Foundation". weareoralee.org.
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