Initiative geared at genomics research to involve regional representation in development of  improved treatments for cancer, other chronic conditions 

The Jamaica Cancer Care and Research Institute (JACCRI), the Harvard/MGH Center on Genomics, Vulnerable Populations and Health Disparities and The University of the West Indies West Indies (UWI) today (April 8) publicly launched the H3ECaribbean Initiative.

The H3ECaribbean Initiative, referring to Human Heredity, Environment and Health in the Caribbean, was launched in Jamaica via Zoom, along with leading genomics researchers, clinicians, and social scientists from six different countries. 

Selected by the Committee of Deans of The UWI’s Faculty of Medical Sciences as its signature initiative to celebrate ‘One UWI”’across all medical school campuses, H3ECaribbean aims to build the health research infrastructure needed to investigate genomic, environmental, and social influences on the etiology of chronic diseases in the region. The initiative seeks to ensure inclusion of persons from the Caribbean in cutting-edge global health research. 

The committee comprises Deans Tomlin Paul (UWI Faculty of Medical Sciences [FMS], Mona); Peter Adams (UWI FMS, Cave Hill, Barbados) and Terence Seemungal (UWI FMS, St. Augustine, Trinidad) and Director of The UWI’s School of Clinical Medicine and Research, Bahamas, Dr Robin Roberts, who are all members of the H3ECaribbean Steering Committee. 

Role of H3ECaribbean initiative

“Through H3ECaribbean, we will create incredible global research opportunities for our faculty, students, and trainees throughout the region,” commented Paul.

He said the initiative was “matched by the kind of training and faculty development that will allow Caribbean investigators to participate in global genomics and health research as equal partners with our colleagues in the US and Europe”. 

Modeled after the successful H3Africa (Human Heredity and Health in Africa) programme envisioned by Dr Charles Rotimi, director of the NIH Center for Research on Genomics and Global Health, H3ECaribbean will advocate for a substantial investment in the health research infrastructure needed to participate in international genomics studies. These include biobanks, electronic health records, longitudinal epidemiological data and cancer registries.

Rotimi and Dr Ambroise Wonkum, a principal investigator with H3Africa from South Africa, spoke about the challenges they experienced and their strategies for overcoming them.  

Medical professionals leading the charge

The overall initiative is being led by Paul and Dr Alexandra Shields, professor of medicine at UWI and associate professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Harvard/MGH Center on Genomics, Vulnerable Populations and Health Disparities.

Shields is also one of the three women who founded the Jamaica Cancer Care and Research Institute (JACCRI), which initiated the H3ECaribbean initiative.

For her part, Shields remarked, “with respect to cancer, for example, people across the small island nations of the Caribbean may have unique environmental influences that lead them to have different mutations driving the growth of cancers in the Caribbean than the white middle-class Americans, who currently comprise the vast majority of the discovery data sets used to develop novel therapies”. 

According to her “inclusion in the discovery data sets used to develop novel therapies is ultimately about social justice. We need to ensure that persons in the Caribbean benefit equitably from advances in global genomics and global genomics research”.

Cancer now accounts for more than 20 per cent of all deaths in the Caribbean and this rate is increasing. According to a recent paper review in Lancet Oncology by researchers from JACCRI, cancer cases are expected to rise by nearly 70 per cent over the next 10 years. 

JACCRI is an NGO committed to reducing the burden of cancer and improving treatment outcomes in Jamaica and throughout the Caribbean. Headquartered at UWI Mona, JACCRI is uniquely positioned to lead the regional effort under way to develop the necessary research infrastructure that would allow people from the Caribbean to be included in international studies developing novel treatments for disease and cancer.

JACCRI was co-founded in 2017 by Dr Dingle Spence (a leading clinical oncologist and palliative care physician who runs The Hope Institute Hospital, Jamaica’s only specialist oncology hospital). The other founding members are Dr Jennifer Alexander (pathologist, and founder of Surgipath Diagnostics) and Shields.