Dr. Jordan Tang. 1965. Courtesy Oklahoma Historical Society.

Dr. Jordan Tang was a visionary medical scientist whose groundbreaking research on proteases and life-saving inventions helped people lead healthier lives. Born in Fuzhou, China, Tang spent part of his early childhood in a country gripped by war, moving with different family members from town to town to avoid danger. It was during this tumultuous time that he began reading about individuals like Thomas Edison, drawing inventions of his own in a notebook. By the time his family moved to Taiwan at the end of World War II, Tang dreamed of becoming a scientist. 

Dr. Chi-Sun Wang, right, and Dr. Jordan Tang. 1993. Courtesy Oklahoma Historical Society.

With only $300 collected by family and neighbors in Taiwan, Tang moved to Oklahoma in 1955 to study biochemistry at Oklahoma A&M, now Oklahoma State University (OSU). After earning an M.S. degree at OSU, Tang joined the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation in 1957 as a laboratory technician. He soon discovered a stomach protein called gastricsin, a discovery which led to the development of stomach cancer detection tests and helped him earn a Ph.D. in biochemistry at the University of Oklahoma. 

Dr. Jordan Tang with a scientific model. Courtesy Oklahoma Hall of Fame Archives.

Tang became a world-leading expert on proteases and their utility in understanding, treating, and curing diseases. He saved countless lives through a protease-inhibiting drug to treat HIV/AIDS in the 1980s. In 2001, Tang became the first Oklahoman to receive the $1 million Pioneer Award from the Alzheimer's Disease Association for his breakthrough discovery of Memapsin 2, an aspartic protease that produces the peptide responsible for causing Alzheimer's disease.