News Releases

UWI Lecturer to receive Caribbean Award for Excellence

For Release Upon Receipt - March 12, 2010

St. Augustine


Professor Kathleen Coard wins Anthony N Sabga Caribbean Award 

A Professor of Pathology at The University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona Campus in Jamaica will soon receive TT$500,000 to support her work and professional development. Professor Kathleen Coard is expected to accept the cash award, along with the Anthony N Sabga Caribbean Awards for Excellence (ANSCAFE) medal and citation, at a formal award ceremony on April 17th, 2010.

Named ANSCAFE 2010 Laureate for Science and Technology, Professor Coard is the first female graduate of The University of the West Indies’ Medical DM (Pathology) programme to become Professor in Pathology. She is a widely respected researcher, author, and teacher in the field of medical pathology. Her research has been published in internationally recognised journals and she has over 60 publications to her name.

In a career that has contributed to understanding and treating cardiovascular diseases, prostate cancer and soft tissue tumors, the Grenadian-born pathologist has received more than six medical awards, including a Jamaica Medical Foundation award in 2009 for outstanding achievement in the fields of pathology and research. She is a founding member of the Caribbean Cardiac Society and the Jamaican Association of Clinical Pathologists, and has held key leadership positions during her career, including Consultant Pathologist to Derriford Hospital, Plymouth, UK, in 1996.

Professor Coard is among three ANSCAFE 2010 Laureates to be honoured at the gala ceremony next month. Mr Adrian Augier, St Lucian poet and dramatist, has been named 2010 Laureate for Arts and Letters, while Guyanese-born sustainable tourism pioneer, Mr Sydney Allicock, is the 2010 Laureate for Public and Civic Contributions.

The nomination process for the three 2010 Laureates began with five Country Nominating Committees (CNC) from Guyana, Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). CNC chairs are appointed by a regional Eminent Persons Selection Panel, an autonomous committee appointed by the ANSA McAL Foundation with specific responsibility for the governance of the 2010 programme and the final selection of the Awards’ recipients. The panel was chaired by Michael Mansoor. Other members included Sir Ellis Clarke, Justice Christopher Blackman, Dr Compton Bourne, Christopher Bovell, Judy Y Chang, Rev Henry Charles, Sister Paul D’Ornella, Sir Shridath Ramphal, Major General (Ret’d) Joseph Singh and Sir K Dwight Venner.

At the inaugural ANSCAFE Awards in 2006, Professor Terrence Forrester (Science and Technology), Robert Yao Ramesar (Arts & Letters) and Rev. Father Gregory Ramkissoon (Public and Civic Contributions) were selected as Laureates. Interestingly, all three share a connection to The UWI. It was as a young academic lecturing in Geography at UWI Mona Campus, Jamaica, that Father Gregory set up the ministry which would blossom into the Mustard Seed Community. Professor Forrester (BSc, MSc, PhD, DM) unified four research units across three UWI campuses when he spearheaded the formation of the Tropical Medical Research Institute, which merged the Tropical Metabolism Research Unit, the Sickle Cell Research Unit and the Epidemiology Research Unit at UWI Mona, and the Chronic Disease Research Unit in Barbados. Ramesar (BA, MFA Film Directing), a Lecturer in Film at UWI St Augustine, Department of Creative and Festival Arts, has pioneered the teaching of cinema at the tertiary level in his native Trinidad and Tobago.

The Panel chooses laureates based on their excellent work and potential for greater achievement, in keeping with the stated goals of The Anthony N Sabga Caribbean Awards, which is to honour distinguished Caribbean citizens who exemplify Caribbean life, and to promote and foster the pursuit of excellence by Caribbean persons for the benefit of the Caribbean community. Selectors were looking for exemplary candidates who could demonstrate a track record of consistently superior work having a positive impact on the Caribbean region, and showing the capacity for significant future achievement. According to the ANSCAFE website (http://www.ansacaribbeanawards.com), members of the public were also able to propose candidates as of March 2009.

For the latest UWI News, click http://sta.uwi.edu/news.

Find the link between the inaugural ANSCAFE awardees and The University of the West Indies: http://sta.uwi.edu/pelican/archives/issue3/article7.asp

 

About Professor Kathleen Coard

Prof. Kathleen Coard is a widely respected researcher, author, and teacher in the field of medical pathology. She was the first female graduate of the University of the West Indies medical DM (Pathology) programme to be made professor of pathology.

Her contributions to advancements in understanding and treating cardiovascular diseases, prostate cancer, and soft tissue tumours are considered outstanding. Coard’s work has made important contributions to the body of knowledge about her field specific to Jamaica and the Caribbean.

Her research has been published in internationally recognised journals such as the West Indian Medical Journal, the Southern Medical Journal, and Cardiovascular Pathology. She has over 60 publications to her name. Her research has been used to identify the causes and make recommendations for the amelioration of major medical problems confronting the region.

Coard was recently cited by the Jamaica Medical Foundation with an award for Outstanding Achievement in the field of Pathology and Research, 2009. Her involvement in many adjunct committees and commissions shows tremendous commitment and leadership within her field. She is founding member of the Caribbean Cardiac Society (1988) and of the Jamaican Association of Clinical Pathologists (JACP) (1992).  

Her work and achievements have been extremely widely recognised. Among her many awards are: (i) The Dan Hoyte Prize in Anatomy, UWI in 1974; (ii) a six-month WHO-PAHO Fellowship in Cardiovascular Pathology, University Hospital, University of Western Ontario, Canada in 1983; (iii) a Fellowship for Advanced Teaching Skills Training; (iv) Award for the Most Outstanding Researcher in the Faculty of Medical Sciences, UWI in 2004; (v) Award for Best Publication in the Faculty of Medical Sciences, UWI in 2006; (vi) Jamaica Medical Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Pathology and Research in 2009.

She is recognised by her colleagues as a leader in her field. A 2007 letter of recommendation by Professor Owen Morgan of UWI’s Mona campus states: “Her lectures to medical students and residents in the DM (Pathology) programmes have been simply outstanding. She contributed enormously to the research programme in the department. . . . Through her participation in faculty committees Professor Coard became an active and effective member in policy making decisions. She has shown that she possesses organisational skills and that she is an effective leader.”

Beverly Steele, member of the OECS Nominating Committee, noted: “Professor Coard has an enviable record of successful research and teaching. A late starter, as so many people from the OECS turn out to be, she has lost no time in getting to the top of her profession. She has enormous energy and drive and has many, many years ahead of her to complete and further her academic work, teaching and volunteerism.”

In 2003, the UWI Alumni Association stated of her work: “More recently, she has been examining the incidence and other aspects of prostate cancer in the Jamaican population as part of a larger study aimed at comparing a variety of characteristics of prostate cancer among Blacks in West Africa, the Caribbean and America who share a common genetic background, although residing in widely different environmental settings. A comparison of prostate cancer across these populations is expected to shed light on potential causative factors in the environment as well as inheritable aspects of this disease.”

Professor Coard was educated at The University of the West Indies where she began in 1971.  In 1974 she completed an intercalated year at the University of Bristol, UK, and graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Anatomy in 1975.  Between 1972 and 1978 she attended The University of the West Indies Mona Campus in Jamaica, graduating with a MB, BS and then moved on to further studies, graduating from the same university in 1984 with a DM (Path).

She has also held key leadership positions in her career. Some of those positions include: (i) Senior Lecturer in Pathology, UWI Mona between 1991 and 2003; (ii) Professor of Pathology from 2003 to the present, UWI Mona; (iii) Consultant Pathologist University Hospital of the West Indies from 1984 to the present; (iv) PAHO Consultant Pathologist to General Hospital, St George’s Grenada; (v) Consultant Pathologist to Derriford Hospital, Plymouth, UK in 1996.

Professor Coard has also been appointed to numerous boards and committees, some of which include: (i) President of the Jamaican Association of Clinical Pathologists from 2003 to 2005; (ii) Council Member of the Caribbean Cardiac Society from 2002 to the present, including posts of Assistant Secretary, Secretary and Treasurer; and (iii) Council Member of the Medical Association of Jamaica from 2003 to 2005.

 

About UWI

Over the last six decades, The University of the West Indies (UWI) has evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a full-fledged University with over 40,000 students. Today, UWI is the largest and most longstanding higher education provider in the English-speaking Caribbean, with main campuses in Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, and Centres in Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St Christopher (St Kitts) & Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent & the Grenadines. UWI recently launched its Open Campus, a virtual campus with over 50 physical site locations across the region, serving over 20 countries in the English-speaking Caribbean. UWI is an international university with faculty and students from over 40 countries and collaborative links with over 60 universities around the world. Through its seven Faculties, UWI offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Pure & Applied Sciences, Science and Agriculture, and Social Sciences.

 

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