Professor Terrence Forrester, Director of the Tropical Medicine Research Institute (TMRI) at The University of the West Indies, Mona was among the honourees at the first Anthony N Sabga ‘Caribbean Awards for Excellence’ launched by the Ansa McAl Foundation with the aim of encouraging the pursuit of excellence by Caribbean people for the benefit of the region. The gala award ceremony took place recently at the Hilton Trinidad Hotel in Port-of-Spain.
TMRI was established on October 1, 1999 with the merging of four pre-existing UWI research units – the Tropical Metabolism Research Unit (TMRU), the Sickle Cell Unit (SCU), the Epidemiology Research Unit (ERU), all located on the Mona Campus and the Chronic Disease Research Unit (CDRU) at the Cave Hill Campus. As Director of TMRI Professor Forrester has the main responsibilities of coordinating research on priority health issues in the Caribbean and facilitating the uptake of research findings into policy and programmes. The Institute is also involved in providing training at undergraduate and postgraduate levels and operates a postdoctoral fellowship programme.