Recently, Senior Representatives of Scotiabank’s management team met with The Principal of The UWI Mona Campus and other members of the senior administration of the University for a tour of The Faculty of Medical Sciences facilities. This tour culminated in a group of medical students being addressed by members of the delegation before being awarded scholarships furthering Scotiabank’s ongoing commitment as Lead Sponsor to The UWI Toronto Benefit Awards since its inauguration in 2010.  The event is held for the benefit of the University’s Scholarship Fund, under the patronage of Dr. Donette Chin-Loy Chang, Mr. Andrew Chang, Ms. Brigette Chang and Dr. Wesley J. Hall. This year, the UWI Toronto Benefit Awards will take place on April 29, 2023.
The Scotiabank team, led by Ms. Anya Schnoor, Executive Vice President, Scotiabank, Caribbean, Central America and Uruguay; visited the faculty to see first-hand how their contributions over the past 14 years, have benefited both in material and immaterial support. An additional CAD $2250,000 contribution was made in 2019 which provides 15 additional scholarships a year until 2024.
Before the tour of the facility and presentations, the group from Scotiabank led by Ms. Anya Schnoor, met at The Faculty of Medical Sciences for a brief talk with Senior Administration. Principal Dale Webber recounted The UWI’s beginnings with 33 students, as an institution primarily geared towards training healthcare professionals in 1948. Professor Webber went on to explain to members from Scotiabank how the University grew over the years both in vision and scope.
He recounted the birth of Campuses across the region and took time to discuss the distinction between The UWI as a research-based institution – which does the research that is taught as opposed to teaching-based institutions which do not carry out research but instead rely on the findings of research-based institutions for their teaching. He also mentioned how students of the faculty, specifically those from the Dentistry programme, offer free outreach locally exemplifying the socially conscious and responsible ethos of the Faculty.
Thereafter, the Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences, Professor Minerva Thame gave a complete, top-down, walk-through of the building making stops on each level taking time to explain more about the facilities throughout the tour.
Highlights of the tour included a visit to the roof top pool, part of the state of the art training and recovery facilities used in sports medicine and medical courses. The group heard about the building’s footprint and design with environmental sustainability at its heart. It was noted that the gardens on the roof around the pool were built to be reflective of the grounds before the development. The building’s ventilation system was mentioned, noting that because of the constant fresh air flow the building remained fully functional during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. The tour continued with a walk through of the laboratories and the group were lucky enough to witness live training sessions on the electronic dental mannequins.
Following the tour, the Principal, senior members of the University administration and members of Scotiabank’s delegation met with 18 scholarship recipients. Mr. Isaac Dunkley and Ms. Rianna Gibbs, two of the awardees, shared messages of thanks and appreciation, on behalf of all of the awardees. Ms. Anya Schnoor, addressed recipients thanking them for their hard work for getting to that point, postulating that they are “the future of Jamaica” and will “make Jamaica even stronger than it is today.”
For further information on the gala please visit: https://uwitorontogala.org/
Also in attendance were:
• Mrs. Audrey Tugwell Henry, President and CEO, Scotia Group Jamaica
• Mr. Morris Nelson, Senior Vice President Corporate & Commercial Banking
• Mrs. Yanique Forbes Patrick, VP Public Affairs and Communications
• Dr. Annette Crawford Sykes, Deputy Dean, Teaching & Learning, Faculty of Medical Sciences
• Mrs. Celia Davidson Francis, Director of Alumni Relations for The UWI, Institutional Advancement Division.