Message from The Hon. Jeff Lloyd, Minister of Education
It is my honour to bring greetings at this 13th Annual Research Day, is being hosted by the University of The West Indies School of Clinical Medicine and Research, The Bahamas. This conclave is key, as it provides an opportunity for collaborative research and dialogue that is centered on addressing and targeting medical issues in The Bahamas, which present challenges peculiar to our country and more specifically, our small island settlements.
Indeed, it is imperative that we have bodies of work published which assess the peculiarities of our unique communities. This conference is well timed, as it allows participants to evaluate how to effectively carry out the task of meeting the biomedical and biopsychosocial needs of our citizenry, particularly in the wake of the devastation of Hurricane Dorian, a natural disaster of unprecedented proportions. We are becoming more aware, on a daily basis, of the need to be able to effectively tackle and arrest challenges after a major catastrophe, such as purifying contaminated flood water, accessing medical services and attending to mental health concerns in the aftermath of a storm.
At the Ministry of Education, we understand the importance of accessing what matters most to our students, and determining how to chart a course in that direction. Your theme: “Modern Medicine: The Future is Here Today,” along with the other session topics, indicate that you are cognizant of that fact as well. The medical discipline, like that of education, must embrace the demands of an ever changing society, in order to remain current. Likewise, your presentations on hereditary testing and gene profiles in cancer research are vital to dealing with the growing local concerns about the prevalence of cancer among certain segments of our Bahamian population.
The research presented at this conference is indeed timely.
I welcome all of our local and international presenters, medical professionals and students who have gathered at this conference. I look forward to the publication of the research, along with the subsequent use of this body of work to formulate health policies and programmes.
MINISTER OF EDUCATION