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May 2013
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The young Oxford graduate, Caryl Phillips, had decided to make his career as a writer, a writer who would spotlight in some way the Caribbean which gave him birth. A lovely ideal that went a bit haywire when his Dole payments ceased and he found himself over-qualified for and uninterested in the jobs that could put bread on his table. A break from a helpful BBC producer saw his literary career begin as a playwright. Since then he’s gained fame as an essayist and a novelist, winning many awards for his writing, including the James Tait Black Memorial Prize (for Crossing the River, in 1993) and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize (for A Distant Shore, in 2004). Prof Phillips, however, poses the question: “what practical use is literature in the world we live in today. How do the arts help us to pave roads, build schools and hospitals, maintain employment, extend our tourist infrastructure, or - in more general terms - develop our economies and societies in general?”\ He answers: “By engaging with language one extends the capacity to think and express oneself clearly. By engaging with character one shows a curiosity about lives which are not one's own. In other words, there is a demonstrable extension of empathy toward other human beings. In our world today, Facebook, Twitter, and a whole roster of other social media, encourage a terrible, narcissistic navel-gazing and a real retrenchment to the kingdom of Me, Myself and I. We need something which counterbalances this narrowing of our visions and this corruption of language.” Prof Caryl Williams is currently a professor of English at Yale University and has enjoyed a distinguished career of accolades with a continuous advocacy for Caribbean people, writers and ideas via his novels, his teaching, and his work as an editor and critic. He holds an Honorary Doctorate from The University of the West Indies Science & Technology (Joint Laureate), Prof Dave Chadee, Trinidad & Tobago Prof Dave Chadee’s lifelong fascination with the wonders of science took flight when a delightful mint green Bamboo Page butterfly emerged from the caterpillars his father had begun rearing. Another experience, many years later in 2001, would evoke further change: “as part of a Cornell University field team, I travelled to the Amazon Forest in Peru. At nightfall we discovered that there were no lights on the boat. As we started hitting floating logs and other debris, the fear that the boat would be damaged and sink was real. In complete darkness the river was all-consuming. Many people removed their life-vests so that the end would be quick.” Eight hours later they had arrived safely at their destination but his life had gained new meaning and purpose. An entomologist and parasitologist, Prof Chadee is an expert in vector- borne diseases whose work has positively affected the lives of hundreds of millions of people across the world. The practical applications of his research can be found in areas like the relation between climate change and dengue outbreaks in the Caribbean, and various other dengue-related areas like mosquito breeding patterns in the region; the effect of parasites on regional ecologies; the impact of cell-tower radiation on the well-being of local populations; and the transmission of STDs (specifically trichomoniasis). His work on mosquitoes has led to the development of mosquito traps, new disease surveillance systems and new control strategies. He admits a scientist’s implicit responsibility to conduct research relevant to the needs of society, ensuring that results impact the welfare, the rights and the treatment of the community - not forgetting the wider society, future generations and the biosphere. At The UWI St Augustine Campus, Dave Chadee is professor in the Department of Life Sciences, Co-Chairman of the Tropical Medicine Cluster: Infectious Diseases, and Co-Chairman of the Biodiversity and Environmental Cluster: Biogenics of Natural Products. He is also an adjunct professor in the Department of Epidemiology and the Global Health Programme at the University of Miami. Science & Technology (Joint Laureate), Prof Anselm Hennis, Barbados At the age of 11, Anselm Hennis knew he would be a doctor. He just didn’t know how he would achieve that ambition. One scholarship and Henry Schuller’s words as his mantra, ‘Trust in God, believe in yourself, dare to dream’ and he was able to turn his vision into reality.\\\ Prof Hennis is a prolific researcher, the results of which have had significant impact on healthcare policy regionally. It is because this research translates into direct gains for the world population that he has attracted more than US$25 million in grant funding over his career. Some of his recent major studies include the USA-Caribbean Alliance for Health Disparities Research (2011), the Barbados Salt Study (2010), the 1000 Genome Project (2009), Novel Inflammatory Factors and Disease Activity in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (2009), “The Health of the Nation”, a baseline survey of chronic disease in Barbados (2008) and, more recently, a global study of Hyperglycemia and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes which has led to the development of guidelines for the diagnosis of gestational diabetes. Now he plans to be part of the group that develops the next generation of Caribbean clinicians and researchers; creating opportunities for them to function in the region while still having a global impact through their ideas and work. “I have learned the art of perseverance by taking on major challenges while being ill-equipped and under-resourced, but having to ‘hang in there’ to the end. It is my hope that our Governments also utilize the evidence provided by medical research in the region to optimally inform policy and practice to the betterment of our people.” Prof Anselm Hennis heads the Chronic Disease Research Centre, Tropical Medicine Research Institute of The UWI’s Cave Hill Campus, where he also teaches medicine and epidemiology. He is Deputy Dean of research in the Faculty of Medical Sciences at that campus, a research associate professor at Stony Brook University in New York, and a consultant physician at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Barbados. The fourth Laureate, Rhonda Maingot, CMT, was honoured for her Public and Civic Contributions. Ms Maingot has created more than 20 religious and secular organizations, missions, and service institutions throughout the Caribbean and further abroad. |
Since the launch of the Anthony N Sabga Caribbean Awards for Excellence in 2005, five sets of Laureates have been named. All have excelled in one of three areas – Arts & Letters; Science & Technology and Public & Civic Work. These Awards recognize significant Caribbean achievement and seek to encourage and support the pursuit of excellence by Caribbean persons, for the benefit of the region. Laureates are proposed by country nominating committees and selected by a regional panel of eminent persons. The Awards are now considered the English-speaking Caribbean’s leading recognition programme. Four persons were honoured this year. Four persons who, when one looks below the surface, all have two things in common: their marker is excellence and they all serve mankind through the works of their minds and hands. Well, actually, there are three things that they have in common – they are all Caribbean people. Among the four Laureates for 2012, three have their roots in The UWI.