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Professor Clive Landis to serve as next Principal at The UWI Cave Hill Campus

For Release Upon Receipt - May 14, 2021

UWI


The University of the West Indies (The UWI) is pleased to announce Professor Clive Landis as the next Principal of its Cave Hill Campus in Barbados. Professor Landis’ appointment was confirmed at The UWI’s annual business meeting of its University Council on April 30. The appointment was approved by the University Council, following a recommendation from Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles.

Professor Landis, who joined The UWI in 2004, has served as Deputy Principal of the Campus from 2015-2019; as University Pro Vice-Chancellor for Undergraduate Studies from 2019-2021 and Chair of the UWI Zika Task Force in 2016. He is also currently Chair of the UWI COVID-19 Task Force, having assumed the role since February 2020. He will succeed retiring Principal, Professor the Most Honourable V. Eudine Barriteau with effect from August 1, 2021, for a period of five years.

Nearly two decades ago when Professor Landis began his service at The UWI, after relocating from Imperial College London, he took up a post as Senior Lecturer in the George Alleyne Chronic Disease Research Centre (GA-CDRC) at Cave Hill. In 2009, he earned promotion to the rank of Professor in Cardiovascular Research and was appointed Director of the GA-CDRC in 2013.

Professor Landis has published over 150 scientific papers and conference presentations, the majority arising from research conducted at the Edmund Cohen Vascular Research Laboratory that he founded as an annex at the GA-CDRC.

His research has focused on the role of inflammation during wound healing, vascular disease, and recovery post-surgery. A more recent interest has been viral and public health research: established viruses such as HIV as well as emerging viruses such as ZIKV and SARS-CoV-2.

Professor Landis’ interest in HIV has revolved around the Immunology Ph.D. programme that he founded at Cave Hill as well as a sixteen-year collaboration with the public HIV laboratory. He has published joint scientific papers with the Ministry of Health and Wellness and accepted appointment as Honorary Director of the government HIV laboratory from 2011–2018. During this time, he led the laboratory through accreditation cycles with the most prestigious international accrediting body, the College of American Pathologists. He has also helped expand Regional laboratory capacity as Chairman of the Caribbean Cytometry & Analytical Society.

As Chair of the COVID-19 Task Force, Professor Landis has published policy papers and technical reports analyzing the comparative effectiveness of the pandemic response by CARICOM. He has pledged to continue his chairmanship of the Task Force until the pandemic is declared over by the World Health Organization.

Together with his experience as a senior university administrator, Professor Landis brings an imbued sense of the importance to place students at the centre of all the University does, along with a distinguished track record of teaching, research, and outreach.

A dual citizen of the UK and Barbados, Professor Landis grew up in Switzerland, and is a fluent German speaker. He is married to Julie Landis, and has three children: Matthew, Christopher and Nicholas. More on his research can be accessed here.

Speaking on the appointment Professor Landis said, “I wish to thank Council and the University community for residing confidence in me to lead the Cave Hill Campus as its sixth Principal. I pay tribute to my predecessors and pledge to continue building, on the foundations laid, an outward looking Campus aligned with the development needs of Barbados and the Caribbean region.”

Vice-Chancellor of The UWI, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles describes Professor Landis as “a leading academic, first class administrator and strong advocate of Caribbean development.” Vice-Chancellor further noted, “He is a people-centred leader, and an advocate of social justice and economic transformation.”

 

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Notes to the Editor

 

Photo & Caption

Professor Clive Landis appointed Campus Principal Designate, The UWI, Cave Hill.

Related News: UWI senior appointments approved at annual meeting of University Council

 

About The UWI

The UWI has been and continues to be a pivotal force in every aspect of Caribbean development; residing at the centre of all efforts to improve the well-being of people across the region.

From a university college of London in Jamaica with 33 medical students in 1948, The UWI is today an internationally respected, global university with near 50,000 students and five campuses: Mona in Jamaica, St. Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago, Cave Hill in Barbados, Five Islands in Antigua and Barbuda and its Open Campus, and 10 global centres in partnership with universities in North America, Latin America, Asia, Africa and Europe.

The UWI offers over 800 certificate, diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Culture, Creative and Performing Arts, Food and Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities and Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science and Technology, Social Sciences, and Sport. As the Caribbean’s leading university, it possesses the largest pool of Caribbean intellect and expertise committed to confronting the critical issues of our region and wider world.

Ranked among the top universities in the world, by the most reputable ranking agency, Times Higher Education, The UWI is the only Caribbean-based university to make the prestigious lists. In 2020, it earned ‘Triple 1st’ rankings—topping the Caribbean; and in the top in the tables for Latin America and the Caribbean, and global Golden Age universities (between 50 and 80 years old).  The UWI is also featured among the top universities on THE’s Impact Rankings for its response to the world’s biggest concerns, outlined in the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including Good Health and Wellbeing; Gender Equality and Climate Action.

For more, visit 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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