Meet Liberia’s New Disease Control Boss -Boakai’s NPHIL Pick Dougbeh Nyan is Public Health Czar

MONROVIA – Within the period of ten years, Liberia was taken by storm and paralyzed by two successive devastating pandemics—Ebola and Covid-19. In the contemporary global village that is highly susceptible to deadly epidemics, countries are increasingly becoming intentional in taking precautions that come not only with improved health and medical techs and infrastructures but also in being highly careful is selecting those who man their public health centers. It is perhaps the foregoing in mind that President Joseph Nyuma Boakai was intentional in nominating one of the Africa’s noted scientists, public health paragon Dr. Dougbeh Cristopher Nyan, to head the National Public Health Institute (NPHIL). Many sceptics and pundits are still asking who the NPHIL new boss is. The Analyst selects a few highlights of Dr. Nyan’s endless resume.

On August 6, 2024, President Boakai appointed Dr. Dougbeh Chris Nyan as the Director General Director-General of the National Public Health Institute (NPHIL), the frontline parastatal of Government in the fight against infectious diseases, epidemics.

Though known within the Liberia academic and scientific community, Dr. Nyan is not as well known by the larger Liberian people, which is why many Liberians continue to ask and wonder who he is.

The Analyst took a cursory glimpse at the professional and academic records of the new NPHIL boss, and found a huge exhilarating deposit of rich credentials.

Dr. Nyan is a medical doctor, biomedical scientist, public health expert, inventor, and social activist with over 25 years of accumulated experience in medicine, biomedical research, academia, and working in the US, African, and global Pubic Health Systems.

He holds degree in medicine from the Medical Faculty of the Humboldt-University of Berlin, Germany, trained and worked as a biomedical scientist and public health specialist in the  US public health system at the US National Institutes of Health, the School of  Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, the US Food and Drug Administration, and the Walter Reed Naval Hospital of the Naval Medical Research Center in the US.

The Liberian scientist worked with the “Maryland Medical Response Corps” of the US State of Maryland, a public health institution responding to epidemics and pandemics – Ebola virus  epidemic, SARS outbreak, Zika virus epidemic, COVID-19 pandemic, and Lassa  fever virus outbreak, etc.

He is the inventor of the world acclaimed Isothermal Multiplex Diagnostic Test for Infectious Diseases – the “NYAN TEST” – granted 3 US Patents for Invention of the Isothermal Multiplex Diagnostic Test the ‘NYAN TEST.’

Dr. Nyan has track a record of quality scientific publications in high impact factor journals  such as “Nature (Scientific Reports),” the “International Journal of Infectious Diseases (IJID),” “Infection and Immunity,” “Clinical Infectious Diseases (CID),” and “Neuropeptides.”

A bilingual, who also speaks and writes fluent German, Dr. Nyan performed several years of unpaid volunteer national service in Liberia and selected countries in Africa in medicine, science, public health, and academia;, and is currently Chief Medical and Scientific Officer of Shufflex Biomed, LLC., a biotechnology company developing diagnostic test for infectious diseases, conducting surveillance of infectious disease, and responding to outbreaks.

Prior to his appointing, and from 2005, Nyan was Chief Medical And Scientific Officer Laboratory of Emerging Pathogens Department of Molecular Pathogen Diagnostics Shufflex Biomed, LLC, USA, Liberia, Rwanda. He has provided overall Managerial Leadership of biotech start-up company’s operations, developing multiplex molecular diagnostic tests for multiple infectious pathogens.

With deeply versed with skills in proposals development, grant-writing for research and development projects funding, public health interventions by epidemiological surveillance, outbreak response and management, diseases diagnostics.

Nyan is also clinical Consultant—Infectious Diseases — USA, Asia, Africa, and lectures medical and public health microbiology, molecular diagnostics at  academic and health institutions, USA, Africa (especially Liberia.

Since 2022, the NPHIL has been a noted Public Health Specialist, Research Scientist 9 Member, Data Safety Monitoring Board International Aids Vaccines Initiative (IAVI) – reviewing clinical trial/study data of Lassa fever vaccines production, and evaluating safety and efficacy of Lassa fever vaccine administration in study populations.

From 2014 – 2016, Dr. Nyan was a Public Health Specialist, Research Scientist — Response to Ebola virus Epidemic – US FDA, NIH, Diaspora Ebola Task Force, helping to oversee public health response, including case identification, surveillance, detection, training case finders and diagnostic technicians.

He conducted biomolecular studies of the genetics and pathogenesis of the Ebola virus, invented a rapid and affordable molecular detection procedure for the identification of the Ebola virus, recruitment of diaspora medical personnel for deployment in the Ebola outbreak theater in West Africa, and mobilization of medications, PPEs, and other resources for Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone in the fight against the Ebola outbreak.

He was member of Data Safety Monitoring Board of PREVAIL, involved with evaluating safety and efficacy of Ebola virus vaccine in study populations of the PREVAIL studies.

He testified before the US Congress on September 17, 2014 on the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, provided US Congress a roadmap to ending the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, proposed to the US Congress the establishment of the “African Center for Disease Control (ACDC)” and Regional CDCs and National Public Health Institutes in Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone.

Since 2015, Dr. Nyan has also been a Public Health Specialist & Research Scientist, Maryland Medical Response Corps, USA, undertaking public health response to Zika outbreak, North and South America, epidemiological surveillance, viral detection, outbreak mitigation and viral genetic genotyping, identification and mapping.

Between 2003 – 2005, he was a BIOMEDICAL-CLINICAL SCIENTIST (FELLOW)

University of Pennsylvania – School of Medicine, where he stablished/Set up and managed a new clinical and molecular research lab to conduct studies on alcohol-induced liver disease (ALD) – Alcohol-induced Hepatitis.

He also evaluated the clinical course and treatment of patients with Alcohol Induced Hepatitis, conducted experiments/studies and profiled gene expression in rodent model (Wistar Rats) of alcohol-induced liver diseases (ALD); extracted nucleic acids from animal tissues for DNA and RNA assessment; and conducted gene-profiling experiments using membrane-based microarray techniques.

Dr. Nyan’s Awards

2017: African Innovation Award Special Prize for Social Impact – African

Innovation Foundation; 2016: Science Award – Liberian Award; 2016: Lifetime Achievement Award in Science Research and Medicine – The Ward Fund; 2016: National Orator-Liberia, Knighted by Gov’t into the “Humane Order of African Redemption”.

Other awards include 2015: Ebola Community Service Award – the Liberian-American US Military; Veteran Association; 2012: Oak Ridge Institute for Education and Science (ORISE) Fellowship Award, US FDA; ❑ 2001: Intramural Research Training Fellowship Award (ITRA), National Institutes of Health (NIH); 1999: Fogarty International Exchange Scientist Award, National Institutes of Health (NIH); 1993: German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Scholar Award, Germany

Professional Membership

He is a member of the International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID); the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID); American Association for the Advancement of the Sciences (AAAS); Liberia Medical and Dental Association of the USA (LMDA-USA).