As the new academic year commences, The University of the West Indies (The UWI) has announced its six newest professors, including an environmental physicist, economic and political development specialist and four medical professionals.

The UWI said the six were promoted to the regional university’s highest academic rank with effect from May 2021, following rigorous evaluation of the quality and quantity of their research, publications and other professional activities by internal and external assessors.

They are Professor Don Marshall of the Cave Hill Campus; professors William Aiken, Tannecia Stephenson and Gilian Wharfe of the Mona Campus; and professors Gershwin Davis and Bidyadhar Sa of the St Augustine Campus.

“The academics received outstanding reviews in their respective areas of specialty; in addition to their personal academic distinctions, they emulate The UWI’s mission ‘to advance learning, create knowledge and foster innovation for the positive transformation of the Caribbean and the wider world’,” The UWI said.

Marshall is a scholar in International Political Economy and Development and the director of the
Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES) at The UWI, Cave Hill Campus, a position he
has held since 2015.

Aiken has enjoyed a career as a consultant urologist in the Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, Radiology, Anaesthesia & Intensive Care, and Emergency Medicine at the University Hospital of the West Indies in Jamaica for more than two decades.

During that time, he served as head of the Division of Urology for 14 years (2000-2014) and before his current position at The UWI, he held a post as a Registrar in Urology at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh, Scotland, while on a Commonwealth Scholarship during his elective period of Urological training.

Stephenson is an environmental physicist and head of the Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Technology at The UWI, Mona Campus. Since 2005, she has been a researcher and a key member of the Climate Studies Group at the Mona Campus. She is recognised internationally as a climate studies expert and currently serves as a contributor and lead author for the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report.

A clinical haematologist by profession, Wharfe is a former head of the Department of Pathology in the Faculty of Medical Sciences and Director of the Residency Programme for Haematology and Oncology at the University Hospital of the West Indies at The UWI, Mona Campus.

She has dedicated her career of over 37 years to The UWI where she teaches at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels; provides clinical and academic supervision and actively contributes to university life by serving on examination boards and has provided administrative leadership on numerous boards and committees over the years.

A physician for over 26 years, Davis has focused his research interests on investigating biomarkers in chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, renal disease and dementia.

He joined the staff of The UWI in 1997, and advanced through academia with fellowships and visiting scientist programmes in Canada and the US, including a Fulbright Fellowship at the University of Minnesota at Hennepin County Medical Centre.

Prior to his professorial appointment, Davis spent almost five years as head of the Para-Clinical Sciences department in the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the St. Augustine Campus and 12 as a senior lecturer in Clinical Chemistry. He previously served as acting head of the Department, acting deputy dean of Basic Health Sciences, unit coordinator of Pathology and Microbiology and Chair Subcommittee Institutional setting for the Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Education in Medicine and Other Health Professions (CAAM-HP) at the St Augustine Campus.

Sa is head of the Centre for Medical Sciences Education, a position he has held for almost a decade at The UWI, St Augustine Campus. He has also been deputy dean for Quality Assurance and Accreditation in the Faculty of Medical Sciences since 2018, and before his promotion as professor, he was a senior lecturer since 2014.