Key Speakers

 

OPENING CEREMONY – FEATURE ADDRESS

Professor Fitzroy Henry, PhD.
Professor of Public Health Nutrition, College of Health Sciences, University of Technology, Jamaica 

Professor Fitzroy Henry is  Professor of Public Health Nutrition in the College of Health Sciences and the School of Public Health and Health Technology, University of Technology, Jamaica since April 2013. He was previously the Director of The Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute - a specialized Center of PAHO/World Health Organization for 18 years. His extensive professional experience as Associate Professor/Scientist includes Harvard University, Nigeria, Bangladesh, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, St. Lucia, West Indies. He has published more than 100 scientific articles on Food and Nutrition in Illness, Wellness and Sports; Diarrheal Diseases; Chronic Disease; Obesity and Public Health. He is the editorial advisor to several International Public Health journals and the Editor-in - Chief of the journal CAJANUS and newsletter NYAM NEWS publications.

 

KEYNOTE ADDRESS

Dr Diane Ragone
Director of the Breadfruit Institute, National Tropical Botanical Garden, Hawaii, USA

Dr. Ragone has been the Director of the Breadfruit Institute since its establishment in 2003. She is an authority on the conservation and use of breadfruit, conducting horticultural and ethnobotanical studies on this important Pacific staple crop for 30 years. Her extensive fieldwork on over 50 islands in Micronesia, Polynesia, and Melanesia enabled the NTBG to establish the world's largest collection of breadfruit at its Kahanu Garden in H?na, Maui. The Breadfruit Institute was created to promote the conservation and use of breadfruit for food and reforestation.

Current research involves collaborative projects to develop in vitro methods to conserve and distribute breadfruit cultivars; nutritional and salinity studies; molecular and morphological studies to understand taxonomic relationships, origin, and distribution of breadfruit in the Pacific; and ethnobotanical studies on traditional uses of breadfruit in Polynesia and Micronesia.

Dr. Ragone is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Hawai`i in the Department of Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences. She is the author of more than 80 publications on breadfruit, ethnobotany, horticulture, and native plant conservation.

 

AWARDS FUNCTION – FEATURE ADDRESS

Mr Ian E. Welch
Managing Director, PCS Nitrogen Trinidad Limited, Trinidad and Tobago

PCS, a subsidiary of PotashCorp, is one of the world’s largest nitrogen complexes and is located on the Point Lisas Industrial Estate, operating four ammonia plants, and one urea plant. Mr Welch has served Trinidad and Tobago at the national level, as a member of several Boards including as Chairman of the Regulated Industries Commission, and President of the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce. Internationally, Mr Welch remains an active member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (“AIChE”) serving on the Board of its Safety Committee in Ammonia Plants & Related Industries.