Terry Gene Wright is the Co-Founder and Founding President of the National Organization of African Americans with Cystic Fibrosis (NOAACF), a 501(c)(3) organization with a mission to engage, educate, and raise cystic fibrosis (CF) awareness in the African American community and to help bring valuable resources, tools, knowledge, empowerment, and support to CF patients, families, healthcare professionals, and the community through its national platform and focus on health equity for Blacks, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC).
Terry is a 2022-2023 AARP Purpose Prize Fellow in recognition of his global impact and nationally recognized contributions to diversity, inclusion, and health equity. In 2022, he became the first African American to serve as CF Ambassador for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF) Arkansas Chapter. Additionally, he and his wife, NOAACF Co-Founder Michele Wright, became the first persons of color to receive the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF) Arkansas Chapter’s annual “Breath of Life Award”, CFF’s Highest Award bestowed.
He co-founded and co-chairs the annual BIOMERGD (Blacks, Indigenous, and Other Minority Ethnicities with Rare and Genetic Diseases) Conference, an annual event hosted by NOAACF that coincides with Rare Disease Day and Black History Month, with a mission to help increase awareness of rare diseases in BIPOC communities by focusing on one genetic disease and one rare disease each year.
Terry and his wife Michele led the development of The Wright Cystic Fibrosis Screening Tool© – in both patient and provider versions and English and Spanish translations – to help people self-identify symptoms that could be related to CF as well as help medical providers identify people who may have CF, especially those who are BIPOC.
He is the real-life subject and remarkable true-life inspiration behind the multiple award-winning 2021 docudrama short, “54 YEARS LATE: The Terry Wright Story”, which has received more than 70 accolades from various film festivals and competitions. At the age of 54, Terry was unexpectedly diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. He has also experienced extensive bacterial infections and recurrent fungal infections including sinusitis, bronchitis, pneumonia, aspergillus, and Burkholderia multivorans. He has also endured chronic pancreatitis as a side effect of his CF diagnosis.
He shares his surreal journey to CF land in his children’s coloring storybook, “Terry’s Journey to CF Land,” which was listed in the top spot on BookAuthority’s “8 Best New Cystic Fibrosis Books To Read In 2021” and subsequently on BookAuthority’s “11 Best New Cystic Fibrosis Books To Read In 2022”.
He is the winner of the CF Star Award for 2020 presented by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation – Arkansas Chapter. He is the recipient of a 2020-21 Impact Grant from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation as well as being the first person from Arkansas to receive this honor. He is also a recipient of the 2020 Jacoby Angel Award, the highest award presented by the U.S. Adult Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (“USACFA”), publishers of CF Roundtable. He recently served as a member of the USACFA Board of Directors.
Terry likes to plant seeds of life, love, and hope to help bring change for the better for cystic fibrosis patients, their families, and caretakers. He is an Arkansas dual-certified Master Gardener and Master Naturalist. He was elected the 2016 Pulaski County Master Gardner of the Year award winner and was a finalist for the 2017 Arkansas Master Gardener of the Year. He completed the standard curriculum in Permaculture Design in 2018. He has also been honored to formerly serve on the North Little Rock Green Committee and Commission on Environmental Efficiency. He has an impressive 38-plus-year career as a certified personal fitness trainer.
Today, at the age of 62, Terry wholeheartedly utilizes his deep-rooted passion for gardening, nature, agriculture, horticulture, fitness, nutrition, and health to help individuals from all walks of life to achieve the best in health! As a consequence of his life-altering health challenges, coupled with the numerous challenging health issues he has witnessed firsthand in the lives of others, he is fully committed to utilizing his expertise to help others achieve a better quality of health and life. He lives in North Little Rock, Arkansas, with his wife and Butterbean, Michele R. Wright, Ph.D.
