Famous Jamaican Scientist

FAMOUS JAMAICAN SCIENTIST Dr. the Hon. Thomas Philip Lecky (1904-1994) Born in Portland, Jamaica in 1904, Dr. Lecky became celebrated for creating new cattle breeds that are more suitable to the Jamaican climate and terrain. At the centre of Dr. Lecky’s research at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, was the manipulation of species of cattle through natural selection and mutation. He was awarded a PhD in Agriculture in 1951. In the 1950s, Dr. Lecky successfully developed a new breed of dairy cattle –‘Jamaica Hope’, which was a combination of the British Jersey (a small, light-feeding cow), the Holstein (a heavy milk producer cow) and the Indian Sahiwal that was disease-resistant and suited to the warm climate. Dr. Lecky followed his Jamaica Hope success with the creation of two cattle breeds – Jamaica Red and Jamaica Black. The Jamaica Red became the chief cattle reared for beef. In 1965, Dr. Lecky retired from the Government service but continued to work as an agricultural consultant until his death in 1994. He was conferred the national honour, the Order of Merit, for service to the dairy and cattle industries of Jamaica in 1978. FAMOUS JAMAICAN SCIENTIST The Hon. Dr. Cicely Delphine Williams (1893-1992) Dr. Cicely Williams was a pioneering physician who specialised in nutrition, paediatrics and maternal care. She became most noted for her discovery of the child malnutrition syndrome, kwashiorkor. Dr. Williams was born in Westmoreland in 1893 and was one of the first women to be admitted to study medicine at the University of Oxford in England. In 1929, Colonial Medical Services sent her to work in the Gold Coast (present-day Ghana). While working on the West African coast, she noticed a large number of hypo-pigmented children with swollen bellies and legs, and also that there was a higher mortality rate among toddlers than newborns. The toddlers were usually treated for ‘vitamin deficiency’. Unfortunately, many of them died. Dr. Williams investigated and discovered kwashiorkor – an acute form of malnutrition resulting from a lack of protein. To treat the condition, she recommended that parents feed their children a high protein diet. Throughout her career, Dr. Williams worked in several countries as doctor, lecturer and researcher, sharing her findings in medical journals. In 1948, she was appointed adviser for maternal and child health at the World Health Organization (WHO). After her retirement in 1951, she continued to work as an international spokesperson on issues of maternal and child health care. In January 1976, the Government of Jamaica conferred on her the national honour, the Order of Merit. FAMOUS JAMAICAN SCIENTIST Dr. The Hon. Manley Elisha West (1929-2012) Professor Manley Elisha West, pioneer pharmacologist, was born on March 17, 1929 in Fairy Hill, Portland. After completing his secondary studies at the Titchfield High School, Professor West went on to the Kingston then Thames High School in Surrey, London, followed by the University of London. It was there that he pursued his dream of becoming a pharmacologist. In 1967, he graduated from the University of London with a Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmacology. He was renowned for his pioneering work in the development of medicine from the marijuana plant. In 1985, Dr. West, along with Dr. Albert Lockhart, an ophthalmologist, developed the drug Canasol from cannabis for the treatment of glaucoma. Glaucoma is a condition that damages to the eye’s optic nerve. Canasol eye drops reduce the fluid pressure within the eye that is present in late-stage glaucoma. Canasol is noted for its natural composition and is a quarter of the price of other synthetic eye drops. Both men were awarded the Order of Merit by the Jamaican Government in 1987 for this achievement. In 1981, Dr. West was awarded the Centenary Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Natural Sciences by the Institute of Jamaica. FAMOUS JAMAICAN SCIENTIST Professor Louis Grant (1913-1993) He was an internationally acclaimed Pathologist, and Microbiologist who did significant work in the research of Dengue fever and the Aedes Aegypti mosquito along with two other diseases plaguing our nation. A leading microbiologist and pathologist, Prof. Louis Grant has tremendously impacted lives locally and internationally. In 1985 Prof. Grant worked tirelessly to get the Foundation for International Self Help Development (FISH), which offers some services at an affordable cost, up and running. He felt poor people should not be denied good medical assistance just because they were not able to pay, or endure the long waiting lists at the regular hospitals for sometimes first stage problems they could advance making it more complicated and expensive for people who already could not afford medical costs. As an avid scientist and philanthropist, he underwent extensive research into diseases such as tuberculosis and leptospirosis. His findings lead to mass vaccinations and public information campaigns. Furthermore, his work led to the isolation of the dengue virus which ravaged Jamaica in the 1960’s. The results of such instigations and research lead to global acclaim as scientists all over the word began taking note and adopting Grant’s findings, innovations, and methodologies. He also conducted research into less common viruses and pathogens such as the arbovirus. FAMOUS JAMAICAN SCIENTIST Professor Paula Tennant (1967-present) Dr. Paula Tennant is the first person from the Caribbean to develop a bioengineered plant product and the first to create a papaya that is resistant to the Papaya Ringspot Virus (PRSV). Paula Tennant was born in Kingston in 1967. She studied biology with a special concentration in botany at the University of the West Indies, Mona. In 1990, the pathogenic plant virus, PRSV, devastated the commercial papaya industries of North America and the Caribbean. The affected fruit exhibited yellowing leaf distortion with oily or watersoaked spots and streaks appearing on the trunk. After graduating from UWI, with first class honours, Tennant was invited to work at Cornell University where investigations were underway to combat the PRSV. It was soon discovered that the Jamaican strain of the virus was different from the one that had affected papaya crops in Hawaii. The scientists concluded that gene mutation was a viable option to combat the outbreak and worked to create a hybrid papaya that could resist the PRSV. Dr. Tennant manipulated the genetic make-up of the papaya and produced a new bioengineered variety that was resistant to PRSV. This variant was named Jamaica Solo Sunrise. FAMOUS JAMAICAN SCIENTIST Mr. Joel Sadler (1985-present) Joel Sadler is a Human Augmentation Engineer and the co-inventor of the JaipurKnee, a budget-friendly prosthetic knee joint, which was listed at number 18 in Times Magazine’s “50 Best Inventions of 2009”. Sadler was born in St. Andrew in 1985. He attended Wolmer’s Preparatory School and Campion College, before studying engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the USA. In 2008, while doing postgraduate studies in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Stanford in California, USA, Sadler, along with classmate Eric Thorsell, designed the device as part of a course project in Medical Device Design. The JaipurKnee is made of self-lubricating, oil-filled nylon and is both flexible and stable, even on irregular terrain. The device was further developed by Stanford University in collaboration with the Jaipur Foot Group, a charity that provides prostheses to Indian amputees. The JaipurKnee has the potential to benefit amputees in low-income communities worldwide. Sadler received a bronze medal from the Institute of Jamaica in 2010 for his achievement in science.