TriniTuner.com | Latest Event:
Moderator: 3ne2nr Mods
)T&T scientists lead the way
Awards for excellence...
By Nigel Telesford
Story Created: Jan 26, 2015 at 8:02 PM ECT
Story Updated: Jan 26, 2015 at 8:02 PM ECT
Although Trinidad and Tobago is more widely recognised for musical and cultural talents and innovations, it should come as no surprise to anyone that Trinbagonian scientists have also been contributing to ground-breaking developments in the field of science and technology.
While stationed at various campuses, hospitals and laboratories around the world, our home-bred doctors, professors and researchers have been leading the way and making stellar contributions in this arena and thankfully, their efforts have not gone unnoticed.
Recently, the National Institute of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology (NIHERST) in collaboration with the Caribbean Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Science and Technology hosted the 2014 Awards for Excellence in Science and Technology and officially recognised and rewarded some of our best and brightest professionals in the field.
Prof Anthony Kalloo is a Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University and the Director of The Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Having developed special interests in natural orifice surgery, therapeutic endoscopy, biliary and pancreatic diseases and sphincter of oddi dysfunction, Prof Kalloo holds multiple patents for pioneering and innovative procedures, including the use of Botulinum toxin in the gastrointestinal tract, endoscopic cryotherapy and the winged biliary/pancreatic stent. He is the pioneer of Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery (called NOTES for short), which is a technique he recently developed that will enable abdominal surgery without the use of incisions. In 2014, NOTES was cited as one of CNN’s top ten medical innovations.
At the 2014 Awards for Excellence in Science and Technology, Prof Kalloo received the Emmanuel Ciprian Amoroso Award for Medical Sciences—Gold from the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Science and Technology, Ingrid Serrattan. Interviewed afterward, Kalloo explained that the award was a symbol of inspiration for those interested in pursuing careers in the field.
“This award is important to me personally,” he said, “because I was born here and it’s nice to be acknowledged for your successes, but I think also that this award allows young scientists or young physicians who are trying to aspire and achieve to be better to see that this can be done and that you can find success with the excellent foundation of education here. I really believe that we have an excellent foundation of education here that empowers persons to become whoever they want to be and achieve whatever they want to achieve.”
Prof Kalloo was among nine awardees on the night with medals distributed in five categories. The other awards and their recipients included: The Fenrick De Four Award for Engineering—Gold (Prof Clement Imbert)—Silver (Dr Chitram Lutchman and Dr George Sammy), The Rudranath Capildeo Award for Applied Science and Technology—Gold (Prof Michael Fisher), The Julian Kenny Award for Natural Sciences—Silver (Dr Judith Gobin) and The Frank Rampersad Award for Junior Scientist—Gold (Dr Naila Murray)—Silver (Xsitaaz Twinkle Chadee and Dr Snehal Pinto Pereira).
In his opening remarks, NIHERST chairman Prof Prakash Persad implored the decision-makers to “place more importance on the field of science and technology in society” today, while also urging scientists to “speak up” and make themselves heard on matters of interest as well. CAS president Dr Trevor Alleyne brought greetings from the Caribbean Academy of Science and Professor in Computer Science at the Department of Computing and Information Technology, UWI, St Augustine, Prof Patrick Hosein delivered the keynote address entitled “Innovation through Collaboration and Interdisciplinary Research”.
“Let’s discuss how you icons out there can help Trinidad and Tobago achieve its goal of becoming a leader in the field of innovation,” he said. “First, let’s discuss collaborations: We are always keen on seeing collaborations among leaders in a field, so many of us would love to see a collaboration between top soca artistes like Bunji and Machel, or a batting partnership of Lara and Tendulkar—the same goes for science and technology…”
As one of the youngest awardees on the night, Dr Naila Murray echoed the sentiments of Prof Kalloo and expressed a positive outlook for the future of science and technology in T&T:
“It’s recognition that science and technology is appreciated and really being seen as the way forward for the country and the way forward for innovation,” she explained. “All of the developed countries that we want to emulate invest a significant amount of their GDP in science and technology and really place a lot of value in these fields, so I think it’s really nice to see that the stuff we’re doing is being recognised. It’s great that NIHERST is making the effort to do these things and some of the people they’ve recognised today—like Dr Fisher for example: he’s a really huge person that even I didn’t know was from Trinidad and people should know that. I am still a young researcher and I need mentors myself so it’s nice to come here and see people I can look up to and know that they came from the same places I came from and have arrived at places that I want to get to.
“It’s encouraging to say the least…”
Dr Murray is an electrical engineer by training and a research scientist at Xerox Research Centre Europe, which is located in Grenoble, France. A national scholar, Dr Murray pursued her bachelor’s in engineering at Princeton University, USA and worked afterward as a doctoral candidate with the Colour in Context group at the Computer Vision Centre of the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona in Spain.
Andre Thompson and Simone Marie King served as the official MCs for the evening, with cocktails preceding the official ceremony and a sumptuous dinner following the award presentations. Musical interludes were provided by singer Nigel Floyd, pannist Johann Chuckaree and the pair of saxophonist Tony Woodruffe and guitarist Dean Williams.
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/featured ... 56081.html
T&T doctor at Johns Hopkins working towards…
Improved healthcare for digestive disease patients
Khara Persad
Published:
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Dr Anthony Kalloo has been in the medical field since he was 19, and has worked as a doctor and medical researcher in the United States for much of his life. He is one of the world’s pre-eminent gastroenterologists, and is the director of that division at the renowned Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.
Kalloo has not forgotten his home, and wants to make a contribution to T&T’s healthcare system, starting with improved treatment for digestive diseases.
“I’m from Trinidad, I’ve spent all my training and my life in digestive diseases, I would like to see care for patients with digestive diseases improve,” Kalloo said.
He said wealthier patients sought him out in Baltimore for treatment, but he would like the type of care he specialises in to be available in T&T, for everyone.
“They don’t have to come to the States to get good care,” he said, adding it was not necessarily that healthcare was not good in T&T, but some of the specialised and high-end procedures were unavailable locally.
The Woodbrook native, now 58, was in T&T for a few days earlier this week, finalising an initiative with the Ministry of Health that ultimately seeks to improve the care of patients with digestive diseases.
A handful of specially selected local doctors will get the opportunity to travel to Johns Hopkins Hospital for a gastrointestinal (GI) immersion programme, where they will shadow Kalloo and other GI specialists.
The programme will expose young doctors to the latest procedures and newest techniques in GI surgeries, specially by using endoscopy.
“Endoscopy refers to taking a tube with a light, like a long telescope, and we could put it through the mouth and we can look inside the stomach and intestine and diagnose things like ulcer disease and cancer. Similarly we can insert it and look at the large intestine and diagnose precancerous conditions,” he explained.
This non-invasive procedure therefore eliminates the need for cutting into patients’ skin and muscle, and reduces their recovery time.
He said there have been major advancements in endoscopic treatment in the last two decades because of improvements in technology.
“The idea is to bring these advanced technologies to Trinidad. That’s why Johns Hopkins has this relationship with the Ministry of Health to improve the care of digestive disease patients.”
It is not the first partnership, as entities have previously worked together since 2008 under the T&T Health Sciences Initiative, on a diabetes programme and training for cardiologists.
Kalloo, a regular masquerader for Carnival to this day, attended Fatima College and taught sciences at St Joseph’s Convent, Port-of-Spain, for a year before going to medical school at the University of the West Indies, Mona campus.
He did a year-long internship at Port-of-Spain General Hospital, completed his residency training in three years at Howard University, a fellowship programme for three more years at Georgetown University, then joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins.
“I was in school for a long time,” he laughed.
Kalloo commented on the healthcare system in T&T, saying there were good doctors, and the Ministry of Health was working hard to make changes where needed.
“There are lots of infrastructural changes that you have to make. For example, when I go work, I go for 7.30 in the morning, and I am there till six or seven in the evening. That’s a different mentality to here...But if you want to make a meaningful change, you really have to be committed.”
He said everyone had to make a concerted effort to build and maintain a working system.
“You cannot have a specialised piece of equipment and when it goes down you don’t have it for six months.”
More info
Kalloo conceptualised and pioneered a type of intricate abdominal endoscopic procedure called natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery (Notes), which is an incision-free alternative to laparoscopic surgery and allows gastroenterologists to access abdominal organs without cutting through skin and muscle. Instead, organs are accessed via the mouth or another orifice and then through the abdominal wall.
Patients recover faster, have less pain and get back to work quicker, which also means tremendous health care costs savings.
“It takes the concept of laparoscopic surgery a step further,” he said.
Fifteen years ago there was much scepticism about Kalloo’s idea, but today the technique is done worldwide, with over 3,000 patients undergoing the procedure.
“It’s still slow in terms of evolution, because we’re still developing new equipment and devices to make it safe.”
http://www.guardian.co.tt/lifestyle/201 ... e-patients
[/quote
UML wrote:rfari wrote:Performance
I agree the work is a bit shoddy in that spot (could be land movement as well we know how UNPREDICTABLE it can be especially when given reports for projects like LAS ALTURAS) but im sure u didnt take pics of the other areas where metres of good work was done. Some areas different contractors work as well. I dont understand what the drain pic is for, maybe you was expecting honey and milk to flow in the drain? or a completely dry drain?
) that there is blockage of the water course and it needs to be removed or cleared? UML wrote:maybe just maybe lower down the drain in a different area (not associated with this drain/project...could even be a previous project/govt
The pnm has a way of twisting things to fit their propaganda. The drain might have blockage and you are associated it with the project and dengue.
could you name any drain in T&T without water?
rfari wrote:Thing is, the residents considering pouring concrete to raise the invert of the drain. Because the earthen drain that existed before worked well. No flood, no stagnant water in drain. All they asked for was for the road to get sandpaper. Seems like box drains and road paving contracts are bundled nowadays
Rory Phoulorie wrote:Las Alturas Commission of Enquiry said that they are looking for Noel Garcia. Newspaper reports on the proceedings indicate that no one could find Noel Garcia, that he is is in Ghana living and working. That's very funny. Noel Garcia has been walking around in broad daylight in Trinidad for at least the last three weeks.
If the CoE was really serious about fulfilling its mandate, Noel Garcia would be on the stand giving his account of the events on that project.
The only outcome from these CoEs is that the lawyers and commissioners' bank accounts get fatter.
PPG, UNC, PNM. . .all of them are selfish with their intentions.
RASC wrote:You think she cares... Work done, Thais it, Mission Accomplished!! NEXT
Rampersad Trace, Clarke Road.
Baily Bridge Constructed at Rampersad Trace, Clarke Road.
Baily Bridge Constructed at Rampersad Trace, Clarke Road.
)Scarborough General Hospital, Signal Hill, Tobago
Road Rehabilitation: Freeport Todd’s Road (Arena)
Road Rehabilitation: Freeport Todd’s Road (Arena)
Duke ‘surprised’ by new Customs offices
Anna-Lisa Paul
Published:
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
President of the Public Services Association (PSA) Watson Duke was rendered temporarily speechless yesterday as he toured the new Customs and Excise building at the Government Campus Plaza, which he later said had left him “pleasantly surprised.”
After witnessing the spacious and opulent facility in which the 200 employees were now operating, it was a smiling Duke that said: “This is heaven compared to the hell hole they were existing in before.”
Members of staff, including customs officers, have spent the last 34 years at Nicholas Court, Abercromby Street, Port-of-Spain.
Accompanied by the Comptroller of Customs and Excise, Ammar Samaroo yesterday, Duke, along with PSA’s first vice-president Christopher Joefield, were treated to an inspection of the ninth floor which houses executive offices and the seventh floor where some of the administrative staff have been assigned.
Referring to the tireless work by officials of the Customs and Excise Division to seamlessly relocate operations, Duke said his union had been working in a similar manner to “get all government buildings up to standard.”
Highlighting the deplorable conditions which employees of the Ministry of Education, the Licensing Division and the Immigration Department were forced to endure until the PSA intervened and ordered workers to operate reduced hours, Duke sought to justify the move as he said:
“We were striving to have not only those buildings but many others become OSHA compliant.”
He said although the PSA had adopted a “very hard and militant stance when coming to the Immigration Division last year,” yesterday’s tour was the turning point as they “seemed to be taking a different stance here.”
Appearing unannounced to perform an inspection and ready to support workers in a walk-out if the facility was found to be lacking in any way, Duke said: “What we have seen has pleasantly surprised us.”
Reading from copies of certificates presented to him by Samaroo, Duke said the Chief Fire Officer had provided a fire certificate to the occupiers of the building that they were satisfied they had met the requirements stipulated, as well as an inspection certificate from the Electrical Inspectorate and another from the Occupational Safety and Health Agency.
Saluting the Customs and Excise Division for leading the way in defining what the PSA wants to see in the development of the public service, Duke issued a challenge to all occupiers of government offices that a concerted effort must be made to ensure the physical environment was conducive for workers to operate.
Heartened that the new environment was the perfect combination to address the physical, social, mental and spiritual needs of all the workers, Duke said with over 1.3 million square footage there would be no over-crowding, while the plans to introduce a homework centre, a gym and an inter-faith space, would directly impact all other aspects of a person’s life.
He said the new Customs and Excise Division had managed to provide a “work-life balance for public officers. This is what the PSA envisaged.
“Workers are more than just a tool, they are here to provide a service and they should be complemented by the environment in which they work,” he added.
Boasting that all services were now being offered under one roof, Duke agreed that it was a red letter day of a different kind for the PSA as it represented a shift in employee morale.
Originally scheduled to begin moving by the end of January, the phased move to the new premises did not begin until late last month.
The first phase took place between March 20 to 23, the second between March 27 to 30, and the third phase between April 2 to 6.
With only the IT department is left to complete the move. Senior officials said the final phase would take place “soon.”
Approximately 200 members of staff are now occupying the new premises but the building can physically accommodate up to 530 people.
Anxiously awaiting the completion of the other building at the campus plaza which include the Board of Inland Revenue, the Immigration Department and the Ministry of Legal Affairs, which are scheduled to be done by the end of this year, Duke suggested that the State replicate this model in San Fernando and Tobago to ensure increased worker productivity.
http://m.guardian.co.tt/news/2015-04-13 ... ms-offices
UML wrote:The UNBELIEVABLE DEPLORABLE conditions people were FORCED to live with under the PNM after many oil booms
FORWARD EVER..........backward NEVER!!!
What about the UNC when they were in power before? Why did they neglect these areas?Rory Phoulorie wrote:Rory Phoulorie wrote:Las Alturas Commission of Enquiry said that they are looking for Noel Garcia. Newspaper reports on the proceedings indicate that no one could find Noel Garcia, that he is is in Ghana living and working. That's very funny. Noel Garcia has been walking around in broad daylight in Trinidad for at least the last three weeks.
If the CoE was really serious about fulfilling its mandate, Noel Garcia would be on the stand giving his account of the events on that project.
The only outcome from these CoEs is that the lawyers and commissioners' bank accounts get fatter.
PPG, UNC, PNM. . .all of them are selfish with their intentions.
Noel Garcia parading around the place again today. This CoE is not serious at all.
Newly Refurbished Brickfield Fishing Centre
zoom rader wrote:Start calling name bro , these ppl need to be exposed. Can't have these ppl engaging in PNM style ill behaviour.
Come on bust the name of this person .
Rory Phoulorie wrote:zoom rader wrote:Start calling name bro , these ppl need to be exposed. Can't have these ppl engaging in PNM style ill behaviour.
Come on bust the name of this person .
Same consultant doing work for a government authority in the west, again involving the preparation of cost estimates, preparing bids for a particular contractor (same one who was eatin' ah food the other day), doing bid evaluations for the authority and making recommendations to award the contract to the contractor who he prepared the bid for. A director in the consultancy firm is a relative to the owner of the contracting firm that was awarded the project.
This contractor and consultant does real eat ah food with the government ministers.
Names will call shortly after Aunty Kamala call the election date.
Court clothes pressed and ready!
Return to “Ole talk and more Ole talk”
Users browsing this forum: st7 and 129 guests
