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.