Retired US Naval Officer. Founder, The Olisa Foundation. Awarded first global (US) patent for small utility —braunmycin antibiotic, derived from MALDI & genomics. Also, invented source codes for Biological Agents Index (BAI) a global (US) public health standard (algorithm) for online infectious disease surveillance. Graduated: Howard University, University of Texas at El Paso; University of Jos, Nigeria. Attended, University of Tubingen, Germany.
Background
Born August 5, 1967, at Onitsha, Nigeria. He is the third of six children. Also, he arrived in United States, 1971 just after the Nigeria-Biafra civil war as a toddler with his parents, both who were Nigerian-Americans. Additionally, professionally, his father was a pathology professor while his mother was a librarian. Interestingly, he is grandson of Robert R. Olisa Atamanya Nzedegwu II, and grandson [three times removed] of Atamanya Nzedegwu I both of Ossomari in Nigeria. His aunt [two times removed] was Omu Okwei the Merchant Queen of Onitsha in Nigeria.
Education
Nzedegwu studied in different parts of the world in part because his father was a Professor of Pathology with work in the US and Nigeria but also due to his military service. He started his primary education in mainly Catholic schools in the United states and Nigeria between 1971 and 1978. After graduating from College in Nigeria in 1990 he enlisted in the US Army and was trained as a Medical Technologist in 1993. After Graduate School in El Paso Texas he received a direct commission to serve in the United States Navy in 1996. Necessitated by his work in the military as a Chemical-Biological Defense Officer, shortly after deploying in the Middle East in 1997 and while attending Open University at San Diego State University he developed online algorithms for National Email System for Infection Surveillance [NEMXIX]. Afterwards, between 1978 and 2004, while studying and conducting research for his Doctorate in Microbiology he worked and cross-trained within the United States military biomedical industrial complex in clinical and public health microbiology, environmental health, infection control, and industrial hygiene and safety. His published doctoral thesis discloses the mode of action of the iron containing antibiotics Albomycin. His discoveries led him to invent and patent the organic anti-infection vitamin Braunmycin.
Career
Microbiologist. Retired United States Naval Officer since May 2016. United States Army. Enlisted: 1993-1996; United States Navy. 1996-2016; Founder and Publisher, American Journal of Biological Defense, since 1998. Chair Board of Trustees at The Olisa Foundation, since 2009.
Personality
Despite being a combat veteran, Nzedegwu loves marathons and coffee.