SUNDAY 17 DECEMBER, 2017 –
UWI TODAY 100
TH
ISSUE
5
CAMPUS NEWS
MEDICAL AND AGRICULTURAL
COLLABORATIONS WITH SOUTH AMERICA
The UWI St. Augustine Campus
hosted Columbia’s
Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago, His Excellency
Alfonso Muñera and a delegation of Rectors (Presidents)
from some of Columbia’s top universities on its Caribbean
coast from October 27-31.
The visiting party included Rectors Dr Jairo Miguel
Torres Oviedo (University of Córdoba), Dr Vicente
Periñan Petro (University of Sucre), Dr Edgar Parra
Chacón (University of Cartagena) and Dr Carlos Prasca
Muñoz (University of the Atlantic). Prior to their arrival,
the Rectors shared 19 tailored collaboration proposals
across a wide range of disciplines but with a strong
concentration on Agriculture and Tropical Medicine. The
packed itinerary includedmeetings with the Faculty Deans
and heads of research institutes including International
Relations Institute (IIR), Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of
Social and Economic Studies (SALISES), Cocoa Research
Centre (CRC) and the Institute for Gender Development
Studies (IGDS). The guests attended the Faculty of Social
Science’s Graduation Ceremony where they metThe UWI’s
In 1983, clinicians worldwide did not know why their
patients were dying from a mysterious virus. Today, we
know that there are 37 million people living with human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the world. We also know
that there are two million new HIV infections every year.
This is all thanks to virologist Professor Françoise Barré-
Sinoussi who co-discovered HIV and dedicated her life to
the fight against AIDS. In 2008, she received a Nobel Prize
in Medicine for her ground-breaking co-discovery and
research contributions.
The UWI and CARISCIENCE (a UNESCO-affiliated
St. Augustine Campus based organisation) presented her
Distinguished Open Lecture on the topic, The Challenges
of HIV/AIDS in the 21st Century happening on November
24 at the Teaching and Learning Complex (TLC), UWI St.
Augustine.
Professor Barré-Sinoussi’s involvement with
retrovirology research dates back to the 1970s where as a
young, female medical student, she sought out laboratory
Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor and leaders from its sister
Campuses. They also visited the Faculty ofMedical Sciences
and were treated to a tour of the Mt. Hope Field Station to
view the University’s work in plants and animals.
Mr. Sharan Chandradath Singh, The UWI’s Director
of Institutional Advancement and Internationalisation
speaking on the next steps noted that “coming out of the
substantial discussions we are compiling a list of realistic
collaboration priorities which fall into some major cross-
disciplinary thematic areas including migration, social and
economic impact; sustainable and economic development,
tropical medicine and the development of new agriculture
industries like Cocoa (in Colombia) and Cassava (In
T&T).” According to Mr. Singh, the priority mechanisms
for collaborationwill be the development of grant proposals
and research projects, the focused mobility of selected staff
and students and the sharing of unique curriculum. There
are also strong possibilities for collaboration in language
and culture whichwill be designed over the comingmonths.
Ambassador Muñera, who is the former Secretary
General of the Association of American States and
Columbian Ambassador to Jamaica, has a long standing
relationship with The UWI and has been responsible for
establishing language training opportunities in Columbia
for students fromThe UWI’s three physical campuses. In his
capacity as Colombia’s Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago,
HE Ambassador Muñera is continuing to champion the
cultural and educational engagement between Colombia
and the Caribbean region by facilitating exercises such as
this this landmark visit.
internships in biomedical sciences – which was unheard of
at the time. According to a 2014 The Guardian UK article,
through her own persistence, she was able to gain an
internship at Pasteur – a male-dominated laboratory that
was not used to having young, working-class women like
Barré-Sinoussi in their midst. Her determination paid off
as she went on to gain her PhD there in 1975.
The work that started in those laboratories laid the
foundation for the 1983 scientific breakthrough the
world desperately needed, where she and her colleague
Luc Montagnier discovered a retrovirus in patients with
swollen lymph glands that attacked critical components
of the body’s immune system. The retrovirus, which was
later named Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), was
identified as the cause of AIDS. This discovery, for which
Professors Barré-Sinoussi and Montagnier received the
2008 Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology, was the basis
for radical improvement in HIV diagnosis and treatment.
A DISTINGUISHED LECTURE
