The UWI Welcomes Six New Professors

The University of the West Indies (The UWI) proudly announces the appointment of six new professors, enhancing the esteemed academic community across its campuses.

The following individuals have been promoted to Professor with effect from October 9, 2024:

• Dr David Yawson from the Cave Hill Campus, now Professor of Agri-Food Systems and Environmental Resilience.
• Dr Derek Mitchell, now Professor of General Surgery, and Dr Zoyah Kinkead-Clark, now Professor of Early Childhood Care and Education, both from the Mona Campus.
• Dr Chris Maharaj, now Professor of Materials and Manufacturing; Dr Venkatesan Sundaram, now Professor of Veterinary Anatomy; and Dr Brian Cockburn, now Professor of Biochemistry, all from the St. Augustine Campus.

As is customary, these academics were evaluated by both internal and independent external assessors. Their promotion to the institution’s highest academic rank reflects their excellence in teaching, research, publications, and their contributions to both regional and international communities.

About the new Professors

Professor David Yawson is currently the Director of the Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (CERMES) and lectures at the Faculty of Science and Technology at the Cave Hill Campus.

He specialises in agri-food systems science, environmental geography and management, geographical information systems (GIS) and remote sensing, and land and water management, having taught in these general areas, including statistics, for many years.

He is an interdisciplinary scientist who brings a polymath’s fluidity to connect disparate fields—a valuable aspect of scholarship in a region with limited resources. His forays have extended to environmental pollution management, resource use and flows in agri-food systems, food security, crop root systems, and abiotic (relating to things in the environment that are not living) stresses (mainly associated with water, nutrients, and climate) in cropping systems; applications of geospatial technologies in agriculture and environmental management.

Professor Yawson came to The UWI in 2017 after completing his BSc in Agriculture (first class honours) at the University of Cape Coast in Ghana in 2002, then his MSc in Geo-Information Science at Wageningen University in Holland in 2005 and his PhD in Geography and Environmental Science at the University of Dundee and the James Hutton Institute in the UK in 2013. 

Before joining The UWI, Professor Yawson worked in various academic capacities in Algeria, Ghana, and the UK. He has published extensively: one book, five book chapters, over 70 journal articles in various scholarly publications, several technical reports and conference papers. As one of his assessors noted, his papers represent an “eclectic group of outputs”, citing his work on human ecotoxicology—the impacts of pesticide residues on respiratory infections.

He has served as an expert and external reviewer and is on editorial boards and various other committees. He has supervised PhD and MSc research. He has also developed courses and the MSc specialisation programme in Land Management and Environmental Resilience at The UWI-CERMES. As Director of CERMES since 2021, he secured a five-year renewable grant to support student scholarship and research.

Professor Yawson won the Principal’s Award for Excellence in Research in 2022.

Professor Derek Ian Gerard Mitchell is a Consultant General Surgeon at the University Hospital. His general area of specialisation includes general breast, colorectal, endocrine, surgical nutrition and biliary surgery.

As one of his assessors remarked, “Over 30 years, he has contributed significantly in the areas of breast cancer and biliary disease…He has been part of a surgical revolution.” He said his work “has created important insights in the development of laparoscopic surgery in biliary disease,” the assessor noted that his publications on advancements in this procedure in colon cancer were a “novel and complex application of the technique at the time.”

A graduate of The UWI, having completed his Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery in 1986 (MBBS) and his Doctor of Medicine (General Surgery) in 1994, Professor Mitchell joined the staff of his alma mater that same year as a temporary Assistant Lecturer in surgery. The following year, he was appointed Lecturer, and by 2004, he was Senior Lecturer in Surgery at Mona. In 1999, he was inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and in 2006, as a Fellow of the Caribbean College of Surgeons.

He has served as a member of the Board of the Faculty of Medical Sciences (FMS) since 1993. He has acted as Head of the Department of Surgery, Radiology, Anaesthesia, and Intensive Care. He was also the FMS’ Deputy Dean for Distance Education, Outreach and Technology from 2007 to 2017.

Professor Mitchell has supervised 27 graduate students for case book submissions, coursework, research and thesis preparation. He has 47 peer-reviewed publications and 27 published abstracts.

He continues mentoring and teaching in nursing and physical therapy education and regularly contributes to public education, particularly in areas such as breast cancer (male and female), on radio and television programmes. He has lectured internationally on surgical care, oncologic disease, general surgery, and traumatic injuries and his work has been considered revolutionary, outstanding, and developmental in surgery.

Professor Zoyah Kinkead-Clark specialises in early childhood care and education and has been a Senior Lecturer in this field at The UWI since 2018.

After completing her early childhood care and education diploma in 2002, she attained her BSc in the same subject at Temple University in Philadelphia in 2005. She pursued her MA in Education (Reading/Literacy) in 2008 and went on to the Doctor of Educational Studies (Early Childhood Education) at the University of Sheffield in the UK in 2012. She also completed her postgraduate certificate in Applied Behaviour Analysis at the Florida Institute of Technology in 2009.

Citing the holistic and comprehensive nature of her work, one of her assessors noted that it explores issues of “professionalisation, school transitions and readiness, and children’s rights” and thus takes into account “the perspectives of educators, children and their families” in evaluating the quality of early childhood education and care. Her work demonstrated evidence of comparing different national contexts and cross-cultural issues. “This is a large and considerable body of work that extends beyond the scope of many other professors in the field,” was the conclusion.

Her publications include 35 refereed journal articles, nine chapters and one edited book. Given their high impact and low acceptance rate, her work being featured in such fora as “The International Journal of Early Years Education,” “Early Childhood Development and Care,” and “Early Years” testify to the significance of her research, said another assessor. Professor Kinkead-Clark has published five articles in “Early Childhood Development and Care,” whose acceptance rate is 14 percent.

Much of her work has focused on Jamaican and Caribbean circumstances. Still, it is also relevant and applicable to environments outside of the region due to the sheer size of its scope. She has also examined Belize’s, Australia’s, and the UK’s experiences. Her edited book, “Reconceptualizing Quality in Early Childhood Education, Care and Development: Understanding the Child and Community,” (2021), highlights one of the core areas of her research: the child and the community. Her work is widely respected for the way it tackles many dimensions of the life of a child and the roles of educators in that context. 

In 2022, Professor Kinkead-Clark received the Global Affairs Canada International Scholarship Award and, in 2020, the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence for Multi-Campus Research: The One UWI Award. She also received the Principal’s Award for Best Research Publication in 2018 and the Principal’s Award for the Research Project Attracting the Most Funds in 2019.

Professor Chris Maharaj is currently the Head of the Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering and a past Deputy Dean of Research and Postgraduate Student Affairs in the Faculty of Engineering.

He is an engineering academic with research experience in alternative use of waste materials, mechanical design optimisation, failure analysis, component life assessment, asset management and innovation management, and flipped classroom methods. He has taught engineering courses and supervised final-year projects. He has industrial experience in inspection and condition monitoring in the petrochemical and petroleum refining sectors.

He graduated from The UWI with a BSc (first class honours) in Mechanical Engineering in 2001 and in 2006 with an MSc in Engineering Management. He completed his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at the Imperial College in London in 2009, with his thesis on researching methods to assess creep damage in high-temperature plant components.

As one of his assessors noted, his work “on the creep of Inconel 706 disc fir-tree of a gas turbine provides very insightful detailed analysis and creep model for the quantification of the remaining life,” and he considered the rigour of the output to be excellent with a high potential for industrial application. Another assessor concluded that his research in this area has “directly influenced industry practices and tools.”

With regard to his work in alternative uses for waste materials, the assessor observed the growing research interest in this area, particularly with the need to develop greener societies. 

Professor Maharaj has over 50 peer-reviewed journal articles. His book, “Help Yourself and Others! Guidance for the Attainment of Eudaimonia,” was published in 2019 and is a self-help book that offers a path to contentment. It might seem removed from his academic work, but it fits his commitment to teaching and mentoring. Apart from past work supervising over 80 BSc and over 15 MSc students, he currently supervises two MPhil and two PhD students. He received the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2020 and the UWI/Guardian Group Premium Teaching Award in 2016.

He is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, and a Fellow of the Association of Professional Engineers of Trinidad and Tobago. 

Professor Venkatesan Sundaram currently serves as Head of the Department of Basic Veterinary Sciences and lectures at the School of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, St. Augustine Campus.

An expert in Veterinary Anatomy, Professor Sundaram obtained his BVSc in Veterinary Science in 1993 from the Veterinary College and Research Institute in India. He continued his studies at Madras Veterinary College, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, where he completed his MVSc in Veterinary Anatomy in 1996 and a PhD in Anatomy in 2002. His academic career began with over a decade at his alma mater before he joined The UWI in 2009. After briefly returning to Madras Veterinary College, he re-joined The UWI as a Senior Lecturer in 2016.

With a career spanning over 25 years, Professor Sundaram’s research covers diverse areas, including comparative vertebrate morphology, neuroscience, reproductive biology, wildlife anatomy, and avian anatomy, with a focus on Neotropical animals and the prevalence of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) in Trinidad and Tobago.

Professor Sundaram’s current research projects include investigating the prevalence of PCOS in Trinidad and studying the anatomy of the Cocrico, one of Trinidad and Tobago’s two national birds. His research also explores the therapeutic potential of Bois Bande, a reputed aphrodisiac, in treating erectile dysfunction.

Professor Sundaram has shared his research at over 60 seminars and conferences and is a reviewer for multiple academic journals. He has authored 50 refereed publications, with 20 as lead author. In recognition of his exceptional mentorship, he was awarded the Outstanding Graduate Mentorship Award at The UWI Principal’s Research Awards and Research Festival in 2023.

Professor Brian Noel Cockburn is currently the Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology at the St Augustine Campus. After completing his BSc (Hons) in Chemistry/Biochemistry in 1987, he went on to acquire his PhD in Biochemistry in 1994, both at The UWI and including work as a Research Assistant at Hoffman La Roche in Basel, Switzerland in 1993-1994. He then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Chicago, USA, from 1994-1997.

In recent times, his focus has been more pointedly directed towards prevalent conditions in the Caribbean, such as Metabolic Syndrome and diabetes, especially its growing occurrence in children. He is a past Vice President of the Diabetes Association of Trinidad and Tobago and a current Research Officer, with diabetes education being one of his main contributions.

One of his assessors noted that as a biochemist, his work in diabetes “helped elucidate signals stimulating insulin secretion in rodent models of diabetes.”

Noting that before joining The UWI, Professor Cockburn’s publications appeared in high-level journals such as “Nature Genetics” and the Journal of Clinical Investigation,” the assessor observed that he continued to investigate “mechanisms of insulin secretion and studying specific gene mutations related to rare forms of insulin dysregulation including maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY), a form of diabetes affecting young people.” Most recently, at The UWI, Professor Cockburn has been working on identifying new and minimally invasive approaches to evaluate blood glucose control.

He has conducted a cross-sectional survey of diabetes risk factors in school children, including the prevalence of overweight and obesity and acanthosis nigricans (AN). He has explored using smartphone images to identify AN in adults and children. Another assessor noted, “This broad area of work includes an assessment of the relationship between joint mobility, as assessed in the hands and blood glucose control in people with diabetes. A novel aspect of this work is the use of machine learning,” was the conclusion.

Professor Cockburn has successfully supervised five PhD and three MPhil candidates. He has published two peer-reviewed book chapters and 29 articles in refereed journals. Among his other major accomplishments was the development of The UWI Regional Plant Protection and Quarantine Principles and Procedures Course, which has trained over 160 Plant Protection and Quarantine Officers across the Caribbean Region since 2010.