Board of Directors 2024-26 - Healthy Caribbean Coalition

Dr. Kenneth Connell – President (Board member since 2020)

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.

Board Members

Deborah Chen – Vice President (Board member 2012 – 2014 & 2024 -)

A results-driven individual who has worked extensively in and among NGO’s; a leader with strong planning, organization, and implementation skills who is concerned about national development and passionate about social and health issues, a team player who can motivate others. She transformed the Heart Foundation of Jamaica (HFJ), an NGO, from a small-scale operation with 6 employees to an internationally recognized organization with over 70 full time employees.

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.

Maisha Hutton – Executive Director – Secretary

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.

Dr. Karen Sealey (Board member since 2016)

Former Special Adviser, UN and Partnerships, Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization

Karen Sealey is a physician-planner, public specialist with a wide breadth of experience in public health administration and planning at the national and international levels. Before joining PAHO/WHO, she was the Director of Health Planning in the Ministry of Health, Trinidad and Tobago.

Mr. Ronnie Bissessar (Board member since 2020)

Mr. Bissessar is the President of the Trinidad and Tobago Heart Foundation (TTHF) which is a not for profit Foundation creating public awareness of heart health, healthy lifestyles and proper dietary habits in an effort to reduce the incidence of heart disease and stroke.

Mr. Bissessar is also the Deputy Chair of the Trinidad and Tobago Non-Communicable Diseases Alliance (TTNCD) established in 2016; Mr. Bissessar’s vision for the TTNCD is that its nine (9) individual members will promote the prevention and control of NCD’s by harnessing the individual resources of the member and, through joint patient advocacy, achieve national access to health services for the early detection, treatment and rehabilitation of persons suffering with NCD’s.

Mr. Bissessar is a director of the InterAmerican Heart Foundation (IAHF) (headquartered in Dallas, Texas) and the Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC) based in Barbados.

Mr. Bissessar is an Attorney at Law in private practice and is Head of Chambers at Lawgivers; he is also a Mediator and a former Vice President of the Assembly of Southern Lawyers and Past President of the Rotary Club of San Fernando South. Mr. Bissessar has served in numerous leadership capacities with non-governmental organisations, charities and philanthropic groups.

Mr. Bissessar is a Senior Ordinary Member of the Council of the Law Association and is a former Chairman (and now Director) of the Caribbean Corporate Governance Institute which is a not for profit Foundation whose principal objective is to encourage corporate governance best practices regionally; Mr. Bissessar is co-founder of the Trinidad and Tobago Legal Network which promotes and provides continuing legal education to members of the legal profession.

Mr. Bissessar is a former Chairman of the South-West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA) (1997-2001) and a former Director of TSTT.

Mr. Bissessar was a Lecturer in Corporate Practice and Procedure at the Hugh Wooding Law School (2008-2020) and is an External Examiner of the University of the West Indies (UWI).

In 1985 Mr. Bissessar was awarded the Bachelor of Science Degree in Economics from the University of the West Indies and in 1988 was awarded an LLB from the University of London. In 1993 he received the Legal Education Certificate from the Hugh Wooding Law School; Mr. Bissessar is a Certified Mediator with the Mediation Board of Trinidad and Tobago.

Mr. Bissessar is married to Dr. Sabita Harrikissoon (who is a Dental Surgeon) and they have two (2) children Sveva (13) and Seth (6).

Dr. Colette Cunningham-Myrie (Board member since 2020)

Dr. Colette Cunningham-Myrie is a physician, who is an accomplished applied public health: specialist/ epidemiologist and senior lecturer in the Department of Community Health and Psychiatry at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona Campus, Jamaica.

She is also a member of the Diabetes Association of Jamaica (DAJ) that joined their clinical care team immediately post medical internship in 1993 and since then has given unbroken voluntary clinical care to persons with this NCD at the Association’s head office branch. Beyond clinical care, Dr. Cunningham-Myrie has been a strong advocate for the DAJ through health education and promotion activities across Jamaica.

During the decade of the 1990’s, she was a key faculty member of the multidisciplinary team for outreach clinics, including our Lay Diabetes Educators program, which was developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Health Jamaica, to train lay community leaders on key aspects of diabetes symptoms, signs and management, nutrition and foot care. This program was later recognized internationally as an important tool in community outreach. She also served as editor the association’s DIALOG newsletter. Between 1996 and 1998 she served as the Medical Association of Jamaica’s representative on the Board of Directors.

In 1998 she was awarded a Regional Study Grant from the Small Embassy Project Program of the Royal Netherlands Embassy based on her work with the DAJ. This grant allowed her to complete the Master of Public Health degree in 1999 at the UWI, which catapulted her stellar contribution to Jamaica and the Caribbean as a public health specialist. In the early 2000’s she served as National Epidemiologist in the Ministry of Health, Jamaica providing leadership of both the Chronic Diseases & Injuries and Communicable Diseases/Disease Surveillance portfolios which included crafting Jamaica’s first national Strategic Plan for the NCDs in 2002. Since 2003 she joined the UWI Mona campus and lectures on Epidemiology, Public Health, Family Medicine and Research Methods to both undergraduate and postgraduate students. A Fulbright scholar, she was Jamaica’s Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow for 2010/2011 and spent the year at Tulane University in the New Orleans, USA honing skills in social epidemiology and international health. In 2018 she was awarded the Dr PH degree (with high commendation), her thesis assessing geographic variations in obesity related disorders and their risk factors in Jamaica.

Dr. Cunningham-Myrie has significantly increased the NCDs research footprint of the UWI by conducting pioneering research on the NCDs and their risk factors, social determinants of health, patient satisfaction and health impact assessment. She has also provided technical expertise through consultancies to policymakers in the Caribbean region, including the CARICOM Commission on Health and Development (CCHD) Sub-Committee on Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases, which provided evidence for the landmark 2007 Port of Spain Declaration on NCDs.

Dr. Dawn Josephine Gayapersad (Board member since 2022)

Dr. Dawn Josephine Gayapersad is a member of Cancer Support Services, Barbados. A retiree and volunteer with a passionate voice for people living with NCDs. A dedicated researcher seeking out evidence based data to increase awareness through numbers. In the USA, she worked in the startup biotechnology industry on discovery and new technologies winning awards for her work.

As a volunteer she won awards for her work with underprivileged youth through the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, and for outstanding service with the American Red Cross.

Dr. Dawn grew up in Trinidad. She attended Biche Presbyterian School in rural Trinidad, she won a scholarship and was accepted at St Augustine Girls High School, graduating with one prize, several distinctions and honors.

Dawn earned a B.Sc. in England, an international MBA in Belgium, and Ph.D. in the USA. At Hazleton Biotechnologies, one of America’s first biotechnology startups, she worked on erythropoietin, this discovery opened the door for cancer therapeutics, and the first low dose birth control pill. Using her unique combination of cellular biology, statistics and economics knowledge, she improved data analytics and reporting for clinical safety human trials. She then worked at the startup Oncor as a regulatory professional seeking government approvals for Her2Neu breast cancer and Fragile X markers, and the first radioactive HPV test. Because of Digene’s vision for HPV, she took a risky job with this startup that brought the HPV non radioactive mRNA test to market and the global study linking HPV with cervical cancer, she won two awards for above and beyond regulatory achievements.

In 2002, she started her own business and experienced her first cancer event. In business, her experience earned contracts from several big corporations including Ethicon, the device and diagnostics division of Johnson and Johnson where she won an award for collaboration.

In 2010, she started volunteering for and mentoring disadvantaged youth through the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), Maryland, USA. She was appointed to the Advisory Board. She received an award for exemplary service by developing innovative ways to open doors for NFTE and its students.

During hurricane Katrina, Dawn served over 100 hours at the American Red Cross, Washington, D.C. searching for missing persons. She received an award for outstanding service.

In 2014, she experienced a second cancer event and joined a cancer support group. This opened her view of cancer patients and their lived experiences.

In August 2019, she arrived to live in Barbados and sought out a support group, she chose to become a member and volunteer of Cancer Support Services. In 2021 she completed a research report on PSA Screening over 5 years for CSS She can often be found on Brownes Beach reading papers on human genetics, cellular biology, and novels by bajan authors. She has three daughters.

She hopes to help others succeed and thrive.

“Anyone who leaves their homeland, by force or by will, can determine to embrace the entrepreneurial mindset and succeed. And they will know that in this journey, they can help others succeed.” Dawn Gayapersad February 2018

Dr. Tamara Remy (Board member since 2022)

Dr Tamara Remy is a General Surgeon based in St. Lucia and one of the Directors at the Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC), the only Caribbean NCD alliance of over 100 health and non-health civil society organisations (CSOs).

Since 2012 Dr Remy has been a General surgeon at Tapion Hospital, a private hospital located on the picturesque Tapion Reef overlooking the sea at Castries, St Lucia.

Dr. C. James Hospedales (Board member since 2024)

A citizen of Trinidad and Tobago, with 30 years’ experience in public health in the Caribbean, Latin America, UK and USA. He was executive director of the Caribbean Public Health Agency, 2013 to 2019, coordinator of non-communicable diseases in PAHO/WHO, 2006 to 2012, and director of the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre 1998 to 2005. In 2020, he founded the EarthMedic and EarthNurse Foundation for Planetary Health to mobilise health professionals worldwide to address the climate crisis.

Charity Dublin (Board member since 2024)

Charity Dublin is a vibrant Public Health Nutritionist. She holds a BS in Nutrition and Dietetics from the University of the Southern Caribbean and an MSc. in Public Health Nutrition from the University of Technology, Jamaica.

Ms. Dublin is employed as a Community Nutrition Officer in the Ministry of Health, Wellness, Social Transformation and the Environment, Antigua and Barbuda.

Previous Boards:

- 2022-24
- 2020-22
- 2019-20
- 2018-19
- 2016-18
- 2014-16
  - Prof. Sir Trevor Hassell
  - Dr. Victor Coombs
  - Dr. Mortimer Moxey
  - Ms. Laura Tucker-Longsworth
  - Prof. Rainford Wilks
  - Mrs. Maisha Hutton
- 2012-14
  - Prof. Sir Trevor Hassell
  - Dr. Victor Coombs
  - Mrs. Debbie Chen
  - Ms. Joanne DeFreitas
  - Dr. Virginia Asin Oostburg