Alafia Samuels
T. Alafia Samuels (born 1953) is a medical doctor with specializations in public health and epidemiology, and an honorary professor at the Caribbean Institute for Health Research, University of the West Indies (UWI) in Mona, Jamaica.[1]
Since January 2022, Samuels has chaired NCD Child.[2] She also co-chairs the World Obesity's Policy & Prevention Committee, is a member of the WHO STAG on NCDs, and serves as a Lancet One Health Commissioner and Advisor to the Healthy Caribbean Coalition.[3][4][5][6]
Early life
Samuels was born in 1953 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Both her mother, from Jamaica, and her father, from Sierra Leone, were in the USA attending university. When her parents completed their studies, she left the US at age one and spent her early childhood in Ghana, Sierra Leone and Canada, before settling in Jamaica at age 7 years, where she has lived for most of her life.[7]
After graduating from St. Andrew High School in 1970, she began working as a journalist at SWING, a Jamaican music and culture magazine that helped put the reggae genre on a global platform.[8]
Education
Samuels earned her medical degree from UWI, Mona, Jamaica in 1976. In 1980, she earned her Master's in Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins University, with Delta Omega honors. She later returned and completed her PhD in Chronic Disease Epidemiology in 2005, graduating with Phi Beta Kappa honors. Her doctoral thesis was "Missed Opportunities in Diabetes Management: A Longitudinal Assessment of Factors Associated with Sub-Optimal Quality."[7]
Career
Samuels's longest non-academic tenure was with the Jamaican Ministry of Health, for which she provided and managed primary healthcare services.[9]
From 1984 to 1988, Samuels was a lecturer in the Faculty of Medical Sciences at UWI Mona, Jamaica. In 2009, after completing her PhD, she accepted the appointment of Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Medical Sciences at UWI Cave Hill, Barbados. There she also served as Director of PhD programs in Public Health and Epidemiology.
From 2015 to 2019, Samuels was the Director of UWI's George Alleyne Chronic Disease Research Centre, which assesses the incidence, prevalence, and risks of NCDs.[10]
She was the lead author of the Barbados Ministry of Health Strategic Plan of Action for NCDs 2015–2019, and the CARICOM/PAHO Strategic Plan of Action for the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases.[10]
In June 2019, she received the Caribbean Public Health Association award for Outstanding Contribution in Public Health and Epidemiology of Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases Research.[11]
Samuels has expressed support for taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages and disapproval of aggressive fast food marketing geared towards primary school children.[12][13] She has also actively addressed the needs of small island developing states (SIDS), which can face vulnerabilities ranging from underresourced health systems to supply chain complications to a higher rate of natural disasters and a higher susceptibility to climate change impact.[14] Many of these countries are contending with rates of obesity and NCDs that often match or exceed the rates in mainland western nations.[14][15]
Her main research interests involve the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), along with quality evaluation of NCD programs.[16][17]
Works
- Samuels, T Alafia; Kirton, John; Guebert, Jenilee (2014-04-01). "Monitoring compliance with high-level commitments in health: the case of the CARICOM Summit on Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases". Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 92 (4): 270–276B. doi:10.2471/BLT.13.126128. ISSN 0042-9686. PMC 3967573. PMID 24700994.
- Sobers, Natasha; Samuels, T Alafia (July 2019). "Diet and childhood obesity in small island developing states". The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health. 3 (7): 445–447. doi:10.1016/S2352-4642(19)30149-X.
- Barton, E. N. (July 2011). "Sixtieth anniversary--West Indian Medical Journal". The West Indian Medical Journal. 60 (4): 377–378. ISSN 0043-3144. PMID 22097665.
- Samuels, T. Alafia; Guell, Cornelia; Legetic, Branka; Unwin, Nigel (2012). "Policy initiatives, culture and the prevention and control of chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the Caribbean". Ethnicity & Health. 17 (6): 631–649. doi:10.1080/13557858.2012.752072. ISSN 1465-3419. PMID 23249261.
External Links
References
- ↑ "Dr. T. Alafia Samuels". World Obesity Federation. Retrieved 2022-03-10.
- ↑ "NCD Child Welcomes New Chair and Chair-Elect". NCD Child. 2022-01-18. Retrieved 2022-03-07.
- ↑ "Dr. T. Alafia Samuels". World Obesity Federation. Retrieved 2022-03-07.
- ↑ "Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases (STAG-NCD)". www.who.int. Retrieved 2022-03-07.
- ↑ "The Lancet One Health Commission" (PDF).
- ↑ HCC. "Technical Advisors". Healthy Caribbean Coalition. Retrieved 2022-03-07.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Cavanaugh, Ray (2017-10-01). "Alafia Samuels: fast-food watchdog in the Caribbean". The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. 5 (10): 772. doi:10.1016/S2213-8587(16)30312-6. ISSN 2213-8587. PMID 27815092.
- ↑ "Johnny Golding Celebrates 80th Birthday". jamaica-gleaner.com. 2017-03-09. Retrieved 2022-03-07.
- ↑ "The Chronic Disease Research Centre". www.uwi.edu. Retrieved 2022-03-07.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Prof. T. Alafia Samuels - Honorary Professor". uwi.edu. Retrieved 2022-03-07.
- ↑ "CARPHA Health Research Conference 2019 Highlights" (PDF).
- ↑ "Jamaica Observer Limited". Jamaica Observer. Retrieved 2022-03-07.
- ↑ "Much more needed to tackle childhood obesity, NCDs - top expert". jamaica-gleaner.com. 2016-09-14. Retrieved 2022-03-07.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 "UHC in small island developing states". The Global Governance Project. 2019-06-22. Retrieved 2022-03-07.
- ↑ "Alafia Samuels". jamaica-gleaner.com. 2021-12-05. Retrieved 2022-03-07. Text " Trans fats – the hidden poison in our foods " ignored (help)
- ↑ "Leadership". NCD Child. Retrieved 2022-03-07.
- ↑ Winchester, Margaret S.; Knapp, Caprice A.; BeLue, Rhonda, eds. (2018). "Global Health Collaboration". SpringerBriefs in Public Health. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-77685-9. ISSN 2192-3698.
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