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June 2012
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Chancellor and ChampionBy Professor Bridget Brereton
In a ceremony in October 2011, the handsome new building on Warner Street housing the Health Economics Unit was formally named for UWI Chancellor, Sir George Alleyne. It was an inspired choice, for Sir George is a lifelong and passionate worker in the cause of improved health in the Caribbean and beyond. As Chancellor, Sir George chairs the University Council, works for UWI—often behind the scenes—and presides each year over the many graduation ceremonies held for our four campuses. He is the first UWI alumnus to serve as Chancellor: he was one of the early cohorts of medical students at UCWI, Mona. The founding Professor of Medicine, Professor Cruikshank, is said to have described him as “the brightest student to pass through” the University. Sir George, a Barbadian, was a member of the Faculty of Medicine at Mona for some years, but then became involved in the wider sphere of regional and hemispheric public health. Throughout the 1970s, he served on PAHO’s Advisory Committee on Medical Research, and he joined PAHO as a full-time staff member in 1981. After holding increasingly important posts at PAHO, he was appointed its Director in 1995, serving two terms in that position. Sir George was the first PAHO Director from the Caribbean. After he demitted office as PAHO Director, Sir George remained extremely active in regional health issues, using his many contacts and networks in the cause of promoting better lifestyles to combat disease and ill health. He was made UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean in 2003, and also Chair of the Caribbean Commission on Health and Development. This body produced an important report laying out a blueprint for responding to the region’s public health challenges. In recent years he has crusaded for healthier lifestyles in order to reduce the crippling burden of chronic and non-communicable diseases—the main killers in many parts of the world, including this region, once the infectious diseases had been eradicated or brought under control.
Sir George has received many honours for his service to medicine and public health, including a British knighthood and the Order of the Caribbean Community. He is one of the best known Caribbean persons and uses his international profile, and his many contacts, in the service of the University. A very proper Barbadian gentleman of the old school—he makes no secret of his disapproval when relatives of graduating students make too much noise during graduation ceremonies—Sir George “Champ” Alleyne is, indeed, a Champion for the University and for the cause of better health in the region. The new name of the Centre for Health Economics—apparently the first building ever to be named for him—testifies to his stature and to the esteem the University holds for him. Bridget Brereton is Emerita Professor of History and author of the 2010 “From Imperial College to The University of the West Indies.” She has been writing this series of articles giving the background to the buildings that have been named after members of the university community. |
Indeed, Sir George is himself something of a poster boy for this cause: he is a strikingly fit man who exercises regularly and watches his diet carefully. (I once met him in Kingston’s Emancipation Park when we were both in Jamaica for University meetings; we were both walking around the jogging track early in the morning. He chatted politely for a time, then tactfully moved away since he was walking very much faster than me—and he is, let’s just say, quite a few years older…)