News Releases

UWI’s Faculty of Medical Sciences Appoints Three New Directors

For Release Upon Receipt - March 25, 2015

St. Augustine


ST. AUGUSTINE, Trinidad and Tobago – The St. Augustine Campus of The University of the West Indies (UWI) is pleased to announce the appointments of three Directors to the Faculty of Medical Sciences: Professor Bhakthavatsalam Murali Manohar, Director of The UWI School of Veterinary Medicine; Professor Montgomery Raymand McAulay-Rieger, Director of The UWI School of Dentistry and Dr. Oscar Noel Ocho, Director of The UWI School of Nursing.

Now in its 25th year, current Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences, Professor Samuel Ramsewak noted that the Faculty has steadily increased its undergraduate and postgraduate student intake whilst launching new programmes at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. With expansions in infrastructure and business units and new and innovative research areas and numerous and outreach programmes, these recent appointments will help strengthen the faculty, thereby improving the educational opportunities in Medical Sciences available locally.

Professor Bhakthavatsalam Murali Manohar, Director of The UWI School of Veterinary Medicine, is a renowned board-certified pathologist from India. Among his areas of specialised training is Toxicopathology at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Iowa State University, USA. His teaching and research experience spans 38 years and he is former president of the Indian Association of Veterinary Pathologists. Among his many awards and honours includes an International Research Professorial Award from the American Society for Microbiology.

Professor Montgomery Raymand McAulay-Rieger, Director of The UWI School of Dentistry, received his PhD in Materials Science specialising in Biomaterials and Biomechanics from the University of Virginia. After several years in academia as an Assistant and Associate Professor in Dentistry and Biomedical Engineering, he entered the University of Texas Health Science Centre in the Houston Dental Branch, where he received his DDS and completed a collaborative internship in international healthcare through Richmond College in London. With his dual doctorates in Dentistry and Engineering, he headed the division of Oral Biomaterials at King Saud University in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as a Professor and Consultant and created the first PhD programme in Clinical Oral Biomaterials in the Middle East. Professor McAulay-Rieger has been involved with the American Dental Education Association, the American Consortium of Engineers in Medicine and Biology, the University of Texas Space Health Science and Technology Forum, the University of Texas Centre on Aging, and was a Visiting Scientist at the University of Texas Centre for High Performance Computing. He has worked with the People-to-People Foundation in the People’s Republic of China, Southwest Memorial Hospital in Houston, Texas, the George Khouri Memorial Foundation in Beirut, Lebanon and the Dubai Health Care City in the United Arab Emirates.

Dr. Oscar Noel Ocho, Director of The UWI School of Nursing, has served in a number of departments within the Ministry of Health encompassing Registered Nurse, Nursing Educator, Health Education Officer, Director and until recently the Acting Chief Nursing Officer. Dr Ocho is a Packard/Gates Population Leadership Fellow from the University of Washington, Seattle, USA as well as one of the first cohort of professionals who participated in the Caribbean Health Leadership Institute scholarship programme for health leaders in the Caribbean 2007/2008. He holds a Doctorate in Public Health with an emphasis on Public Health and Policy from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Dr. Ocho’s thesis focused on exploring the construction of masculinities, its effects on health beliefs and attitudes among men in Trinidad and Tobago and its implications for health policy.

Dr. Ocho has served as a motivational speaker to youth in the Caribbean, including Barbados, Grenada, Guyana, St. Vincent as well as Trinidad and Tobago. He has also served as Vice President of the Nursing Council of Trinidad and Tobago and as Chairman for Casa de Corazon, a home for abused children in Trinidad and Tobago.

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About The UWI

Since its inception in 1948, The University of the West Indies (UWI) has evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a full-fledged, regional University with well over 40,000 students. Today, UWI is the largest, most longstanding higher education provider in the Commonwealth Caribbean, with four campuses in Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Open Campus. The UWI has faculty and students from more than 40 countries and collaborative links with 160 universities globally; it offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Food & Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science and Technology and Social Sciences. UWI’s seven priority focal areas are linked closely to the priorities identified by CARICOM and take into account such over-arching areas of concern to the region as environmental issues, health and wellness, gender equity and the critical importance of innovation. Website: www.uwi.edu

 

(Please note that the proper name of the university is The University of the West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence The UWI.)

 

 

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