Featured Testimonial About Creighton University
This is a People magazine story you will definitely want to read. It details the experiences of Creighton alumna Neena Nizar and her family as they work to raise awareness of Jansen’s metaphyseal chondrodysplasia and other rare diseases.
The story officially published in the Dec. 18, 2023, issue of People. The online version is available here.
Nizar was born with Jansen’s but it wasn’t until 2010 that doctors officially diagnosed the disease. She founded the Jansen’s Foundation in 2017 and hopes to be the first human to participate in a treatment trial next year.
Nizar, EDD'18, was recently recognized as a 2023 Creighton Alumni Merit Award winner and she won Creighton’s John P. Schlegel, SJ, Diversity Award for Excellence and Innovation. In 2018, she was awarded Nebraska Mother of the Year by the American Mothers in Nebraska and she was named the Rare Disease Ambassador in Nebraska by Governor Pete Ricketts.
Nizar, who grew up in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, said she actually received a scholarship to attend Creighton as a 16-year-old. But her parents were hesitant to send her across the world with an unknown disease. She later moved to Fremont, Neb., with her family in 2015 and found her way to Creighton.
“Now, almost 25 years later, I graduated from Creighton with my doctorate, serve a community with unmet needs, and am honored with this award,” Nizar said after being recognized with the Alumni Merit Award. “I still have the scholarship letter from all those years ago, yellowing in my desk drawer. It’s a reminder that God has a beautiful plan for you, even though you may not see it at the time.”
