Dr. Stephan Biheng, growing up in Cameroon, would be struck with bouts of intense, bone-crushing pain.
A “pain crisis,” they call it.
When Biheng speaks of these crises, he doesn’t say he recovered or got better. He’ll tell you, he survived it.
The recent doctoral graduate of Grand Canyon University – he traveled from Oklahoma City to GCU’s campus in Phoenix on Friday for commencement – has survived through these pain crises all his life caused by sickle cell disease.
When you ask the medical researcher why he does the work he does now, which is to use evidence-based research to make health accessible to underserved or low-income patients, he’ll tell you it goes back to his childhood, his struggle with sickle cell disease, and the family pastors who would instill faith, courage and compassion in his life.