Professor Christine Carrington

Christine Carrington is Professor of Molecular Genetics and Virology at The University of the West Indies (The UWI) in Trinidad and Tobago and the Director of the EDGe Centre, which serves as a research and training resource for national and regional health institutions and incorporates the PAHO/WHO reference sequencing laboratory, for which she is Coordinator. She holds a PhD in Molecular Virology from the Institute of Cancer Research and a BSc in Biotechnology from King’s College, both University of London. She has over thirty years’ experience in infectious disease research, with expertise in genomic surveillance, virus evolution and phylodynamics. Her research focuses on understanding evolutionary and ecological factors involved in the emergence, spread and maintenance of viruses, especially vector-borne and zoonotic RNA viruses. Her work to date includes studies on dengue viruses, Zika virus, chikungunya virus, yellow fever virus, rabies virus and coronaviruses. 

Christine conceived and led the COVID-19 IMPACT project, which established local whole genome sequencing capacity and carried out genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 variants for 17 Caribbean countries until national and regional bodies developed their own. She works closely with national and regional health institutions to build capacity for pathogen genomic surveillance and enhance the Caribbean’s resilience to infectious disease threats. She is the coordinator for UWI-led activities under TT ONE LAB+ (Trinidad and Tobago’s Pandemic Fund project), which is strengthening capacity and building a One Health laboratory system for integrated molecular testing and disease surveillance across the human, animal and environmental health sectors, including the establishment of the EDGe Centre. 

She is also Director of the Global Virus Network Affiliated Centre at The UWI and the UWI Representative for the International Pathogen Surveillance Network, and served as Trinidad and Tobago’s representative on the Board of Governors of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology from 2017 to 2024. During the COVID-19 pandemic she was a member of the UWI COVID-19 Task Force and of the Ministry of Health’s Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation. She has also been a prominent voice in public education on the threat of emerging viruses in the region. 

In 2022 Christine was a recipient of a Chaconia Medal Gold Trinidad and Tobago National Award, as well as an Anthony N. Sabga Caribbean Excellence Laureate in Science & Technology. In 2025 she received the Global Virus Network Regional Excellence in Leadership Award (Latin America & Caribbean). She has also been recognised by the UWI for outstanding contribution to research.