Sir Trevor Hassell – Past Founding President
Sir Trevor Hassell is a medical doctor, former Adjunct Professor of Medicine, the University of the West Indies, and Consultant Physician and Cardiologist, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Barbados. He is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology and Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London, England.
Sir Trevor has held the positions of President of the Caribbean Cardiac Society, President of the Inter American Heart Foundation, and Vice President of the World Heart Federation. He is presently President of the Healthy Caribbean Coalition, a regional civil society alliance established to contribute to the prevention and control of NCDs; Chairman of the Barbados National Chronic Non Communicable Diseases Commission, and Barbados Special Envoy for Chronic Diseases.
Sir Trevor has been engaged for many years in all aspects of the response to NCDs in the Caribbean. In the past decade he contributed to the technical working paper for the Heads of Government of CARICOM Summit on NCDs, 2007; was an active contributing member of the Barbados Delegation to the UNHLM on NCDs, 2011, the UNGA NCD Review Meeting, 2014; and the 67th World Health Assembly. Over the past 8 years he has led the civil society effort in the Caribbean in advocacy, capacity building, and enhancement of communications applying initiatives that included hosting multi-stakeholder regional meetings to inform, consider and implement multi-sectoral approaches to NCDs.
In 2015 Sir Trevor was a member of the WHO GCM/NCD Working Group on how to realize governments’ commitments to engage with the private sector for the prevention and control of NCDs.
Sir Trevor is presently a member of the World Cancer Research Foundation (WCRF) International Policy Advisory Group, a member of The Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) Advisory Group on Advancing the Noncommunicable Diseases (NCD) Agenda in the Caribbean and a member of the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) and the International Development Law Organization (IDLO) led Expert Advisory Group on Public Health Law in the Caribbean.
In 2013 Sir Trevor was appointed to the Order of Barbados as a Knight of St. Andrew in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the medical profession.
Senator Dr. Kenneth Connell – President
Dr. Connell received his undergraduate and postgraduate training in medicine from the UWI St. Augustine & Cave Hill Campuses and graduated with MBBS and DM Internal Medicine degrees in 2000 and 2006 respectively. He was awarded a Barbados National Development Scholarship in 2007. He was awarded his Doctor of Philosophy degree on completion of studies from King’s College London.
He joined the Faculty of Medical Sciences as Lecturer in Clinical Pharmacology in 2011 and assumed duties of Deputy Dean- Phase 1 in August 2014, and Deputy Dean of Internationalization and Recruitment in October 2020.
Dr. Connell is a Consultant Physician at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and is Consultant-in-Charge of the hospital’s Resistant Hypertension clinic. He is also a member of the QEH’s Drug & Therapeutics committee and Chair of the Specially Authorized Drugs (SAD) committee. He sits on the Barbados Pharmacy Council as a representative of the Barbados Assocaition of Medical Practioners (BAMP).
Dr. Connell is Immediate Past President of the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Barbados from 2011- 2020. The civil society organization has as its mandate to promote health advocacy, provide health care training in emergency cardiovascular care (ECC), and provide cardiac rehabilitation therapy for patients post CVD events – stroke and heart attack. He was the Principal Investigator on the US CDC/PAHO Standardized Hypertension Treatment Project – Barbados pilot from April 2014- April 2016.
Dr. Connell was made a Fellow of the American College of Physicians (ACP), the largest international College of doctors. He was elected as the youngest Governor for the ACP as Governor of the new Caribbean Chapter in 2015 for two years term. In 2014, Dr. Connell was awarded the College’s International Fellowship for research and colllaboration with the University of South Carolina. he is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP) and local Chief Examiner for the Royal College Physican MRCP examinations.
Academic profile: https://www.cavehill.uwi.edu/fms/staff/academic/dr-kenneth-l-connell.aspx
Maisha Hutton – Executive Director
Maisha Hutton is the Executive Director of the Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC), the only regional alliance of over 100 NCD focused civil society organisations. Maisha holds a BSc in Microbiology, a MSc. in Molecular Biology and a PGDip in International Health. Prior to joining the Healthy Caribbean Coalition, she worked in HIV/AIDS and STI prevention and control for 10 years.
Maisha has been part of the HCC Team since 2012 where she is responsible for the daily operations and leading on the implementation of HCC’s strategic plan which is underpinned by five strategic pillars: accountability; advocacy; communication; capacity building; and sustainability.
The HCC Secretariat in collaboration with its civil society members – works with national, regional and international public and private partners to drive NCD policy and programming in a number of priority areas including: civil society capacity building; cervical cancer prevention; alcohol policy; tobacco control; food policy; childhood obesity; and strengthening mechanisms for a whole of government and whole of society multisectoral response to NCDs.
Ian Pitts – Digital Development Manager
Ian Pitts has been a part of the HCC Team in various capacities since the registration of the healthycaribbean.org domain name in 2008. He facilitated the website for the Healthy Caribbean 2008 – A Wellness Revolution Conference and continued to help grow the website platform as the success of the conference evolved into the formation of the Healthy Caribbean Coalition.
Ian has developed a strong design and technology skill set and he works on a majority of HCC’s digital outputs including the HCC website, the HCC News Roundup, infographics, various visuals, technical briefs and reports. Ian has also worked with other health focused organisations over the years including The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), The InterAmerican Heart Foundation (IAHF), The Heart & Stroke Foundation of Barbados (HSFB) and the Centre for Health and Development (CHAD).
Sheena Warner-Edwards – Social Media Manager & Communication Officer (HCC & GHAI Project)
Sheena Warner-Edwards holds a Masters of Public Health Degree from University of Essex (United Kingdom) and a Bachelors of Science Degree in Biochemistry and Chemistry from University of the West Indies (UWI). Sheena is the Social Media Manager for the HCC Team and Communication Officer on the Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI) Childhood Obesity Prevention Project.
Danielle Walwyn – Grants Manager
Danielle Walwyn holds a Bachelor of Health Sciences degree from the University of Western Ontario and a Master of Science degree with a specialization in Health Promotion from Queen’s University (Canada). Her Master’s thesis research focused on exploring physical activity opportunities among adolescents in secondary schools in her home island, Antigua.
As Advocacy Officer, Danielle works alongside the HCC Team in implementing HCC’s regional obesity prevention project which targets the CARICOM Community with a focus on Barbados and Jamaica.
In her spare time, Danielle enjoys teaching fitness classes for children, adults and older adults. She is passionate about making diverse, enjoyable, physical activities accessible to all.
Jenée Farrell – Advocacy Officer
Jenée Farrell is a public health professional whose work focuses on health equity, health governance, and food systems across the Caribbean. Through her role with the Healthy Caribbean Coalition, she supports regional efforts to strengthen school nutrition policies, advance non-communicable disease (NCD) prevention, and promote inclusive approaches to health decision-making, contributing to research, policy guidance, advocacy, and coalition-building efforts.
Jenée holds a Master of Public Health in Global Health Policy from The George Washington University and dual Bachelor’s degrees in Biology and Health Education from Howard University. Her experience spans health policy, strategic communications, monitoring and evaluation, knowledge translation, and stakeholder engagement, and includes collaboration with governments, regional institutions, civil society organizations, and multilateral agencies.
Jenée is particularly interested in the intersection of participation, policy, and accountability, exploring how young people, communities, and institutions can work together to create healthier and more equitable societies. She is passionate about translating evidence into action, amplifying community voices, and fostering collaborative approaches to public health challenges.
Outside of work, Jenée enjoys exploring stories, histories, and the connections between people, place, and culture. She enjoys creative expression and curating spaces for dialogue, reflection, and community connection, often drawing inspiration from Caribbean history, everyday experiences, and the arts. Whether through conversation, reflection, or creative projects, she is continually drawn to how storytelling, creativity, and collective action can deepen understanding, strengthen community, and help shape healthier and more equitable societies.
Keisha Mayers-Juman – Finance Officer
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Sheena is also a Public Health Consultant and has served as the Project Manager to the National NCD (non-communicable diseases) Commission Barbados and Health Promotion and Prevention Consultant to the Ministry of Health Barbados. She works in the area of public health specifically in Chronic Disease Research, HIV/STI Treatment and Prevention and Health Promotion and has worked in the area of public health for the past ten years.
Sheena loves to travel the World and has spent lengths of time in Ireland, England, Scotland, New Zealand, France and the US and has travelled the Caribbean region on numerous occasions.