We were lucky to catch up with Dr. Hadiyah-Nicole Green recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Dr. Hadiyah-Nicole thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. One of our favorite things to hear about is stories around the nicest thing someone has done for someone else – what’s the nicest thing someone has ever done for you?
The kindest act of service anyone has ever done for me is to volunteer for the Ora Lee Smith Cancer Research Foundation. Our mission is to change the way cancer is treated and reduce cancer-patient suffering by providing care that is accessible, affordable, and effective. Our volunteers help raise awareness and funds for the cancer-killing technology I developed. Every hour of volunteer work helps us move one hour closer to reaching our initial goal of raising the $10 million needed to begin human clinical trials. Through organizing events, raising awareness, and doing behind-the-scenes work, they show their commitment to The Ora Lee Cancer Research Foundation and the potential to save lives!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
About Dr. Green
Dr. Hadiyah-Nicole Green is a STEM pioneer, leader, humanitarian, and entrepreneur who is ushering in the next generation of cancer treatments, cancer charities, and affordable healthcare. She is one of the nation’s leading medical physicists and one of the first African American women to earn a Ph.D. in Physics, a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Career Development Award, and a VA Merit Scholar Award – all for her work developing targeted and localized cancer therapeutics. She is an associate professor at the Morehouse School of Medicine Department of Surgery. The FDA recently granted Breakthrough Device Designation for her localized cancer treatment that induces complete tumor response with clear margins in mice after one 10-minute treatment without observable side effects, and to fundraise for human clinical trials and ensure affordability, Dr. Green founded a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, Ora Lee Smith Cancer Research Foundation (OraLee.org). The media features of her story include ABC News, NBC News, The History Channel, PBS, and NPR. She has been distinguished as one of the 100 Most Influential Americans by Ebony and The Root magazines, Top 30 Under 40 in Healthcare by Business Insider, 100 Women of the Century by USA Today, 50 Champions by Forbes, and a 2024 U.S. President’s Lifetime Achievement Awardee.
About the Ora Lee Smith Cancer Research Foundation
Cancer has impacted most of us. While cancer that is detected early has a high cure rate, nearly 10 million people still die from cancer each year worldwide. Even with the best care, any of us, our family, friends, or colleagues, can be subjected to ineffective treatments, harsh side effects, lengthy treatment durations, prohibitive costs and limited accessibility. Now there’s a better way! Dr. Hadiyah-Nicole Green has developed a novel cancer-killing technology, Laser-Activated NanoTherapy (LANT), that is of high clinical relevance in the field of oncology. LANT directly addresses the urgent yet unmet global need for more effective treatment options for millions of people with difficult-to-treat cancers. LANT is designed as a minimally invasive, curative treatment for solid tumors that induces site-specific (not cell type-specific) cellular death and tumor regression precisely at the site of laser activation. The peer-reviewed, preclinical in vivo LANT data showed complete tumor regression with clear tumor margins and healed skin in just 15 days after a single, 10-minute treatment without surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, or observed side effects. Because its mechanism of action is based on physics instead of biology, LANT is a platform therapy designed to have clinical indications for a variety of difficult-to-treat solid tumors such as brain, pancreatic, breast, prostate, and head and neck cancers.
Dr. Green founded the Ora Lee Smith Cancer Research Foundation, a 501(c)(3) cancer nonprofit, to keep the cancer-killing technology she developed affordable for all and stay independent. The Ora Lee Smith Cancer Research Foundation is on a mission to change the way cancer is treated and reduce cancer-patient suffering by providing a treatment that is accessible, affordable, and effective. Limited by funding, not technological advancements, the Ora Lee Foundation is ready to move LANT beyond the laboratory and into humans with tax-deductible donations. When you support the Ora Lee Smith Cancer Research Foundation (OraLee.org) your donations will help ensure Dr. Green’s research comes to life by helping to fund human clinical trials, taking this tech from the lab to the living.
Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?
The most important thing for success would be understanding that there are no big “I’s” or little “you’s”. We all need help in our journey, and this one is being made possible by everyone who has shown up for the Ora Lee Smith Cancer Research Foundation through their monetary support, volunteerism, and partnership.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Approximately 14.1 million new people are diagnosed with cancer each year, and 10 million people worldwide die from it. This war on cancer is not about statistics: it’s personal for me. At 22 years old, I became the primary caregiver to my aunt and uncle, Ora Lee Smith and General Lee Smith, who were the only parents I knew. My aunt told me she would rather die than experience the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation. My uncle went to the brink of death, experiencing a 150-pound weight loss, long-term diarrhea, and skin disfiguration. I witnessed the horrors of both cancer and cancer treatments, and I knew there had to be a better way. In memory of my loved ones, I developed a cancer treatment without side effects and founded a nonprofit foundation to keep that treatment affordable and accessible for all. What continues to motivate me are the cries for help when someone receives a terrifying diagnosis or when they’re told “there is nothing else we can do.” With the technology I developed, there is something we can do—and with your support, we can fund human trials and save lives.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://oralee.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oraleeorg/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oraleeorg
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/oraleeorg/posts/?feedView=all
- Twitter: https://x.com/OraLeeOrg/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DrHadiyahNicoleGreen/featured
- Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drhadiyahgreen
Image Credits
Rebecca Beall