Dr Victor Blanchette is Medical Director of the Pediatric Thrombosis and Hemostasis Program in the Division of Haematology/Oncology at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Toronto, Canada. He is the McCaig Magee Family Medical Director of the SickKids-Caribbean Cancer and Blood Disorders Initiative in the Centre for Global Child Health at the Hospital for Sick Children.

After completing his medical training at the University of Cambridge and St Bartholomew's Hospital in the United Kingdom, Dr Blanchette pursued subspecialty training in pediatrics at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, USA followed by fellowship training in pediatric hematology/oncology at McMaster University Medical Centre in Hamilton, Canada.

Dr Blanchette's research interests are in the area of the congenital and acquired bleeding disorders of children. He is Director of the Pediatric Comprehensive Care Hemophilia Program at the Hospital for Sick Children, and Chair of the International Prophylaxis Study Group (IPSG). Dr. Blanchette is recipient of the Canadian Pediatric Society 2009 Alan Ross Award, the Canadian Blood Services 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award, and the American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology 2012 Distinguished Career Award. Dr Blanchette is an elected Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of the United Kingdom.

Chief Forensic Pathologist

Michael S. Pollanen is the Chief Forensic Pathologist for Ontario, Canada and a Professor and Vice-Chair (Innovation) of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of Toronto. He graduated from the University of Toronto with an MD (1999) and PhD (1995) and completed his residency in 2003. His duties include supervising and directing the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service (7000 autopsies/year), conducting autopsy (>2500 autopsies conducted to date), testifying in court (>250 court testimonies to date), and directing academic activities in forensic pathology at the University of Toronto. Professor Pollanen's main educational focus is training forensic pathologists and strengthening forensic capacity in the Global South.

He has been involved in case work or forensic missions in: East Timor, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Haiti, Thailand, Jamaica, Iraq, and Bermuda. His current research interests include Nodding disease in Uganda and the pathology of torture. He has published over 90 papers in peer- reviewed journals.

Professor Pollanen is a member of the forensic advisory board of the International Committee of the Red Cross and is the immediate Past President of the International Association of Forensic Science (2015-17). He is a Founder of Forensic Pathology in the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. He is also a Deputy Chief Coroner in Ontario.

Consultant Neurosurgeon

UWI, Mona graduate and recipient of the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science (DSc) from The UWI, Professor Renn Holness, has been selected by the Canadian Neurosurgical Society (CNSS) to receive The Charles Drake Medal, its Lifetime Achievement Award, in recognition of his outstanding career and significant contribution to Neurosurgery.

Professor Holness received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Annual Congress of the Canadian Neurological Sciences Federation Congress in Quebec City, June 21 - 24, 2016. The President of the CNSS, Ian Fleetwood, in communicating this signal honour to him referred to Holness' many leadership roles in Canadian Neurosurgery. Renn Holness attained the Gold Medal in the 1968 Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) Final Examinations, obtaining Distinctions in Obstetrics &Gynaecology and Pathology & Microbiology as well as Honours in Medicine and Surgery. He served as Professor and Head of the Department of Neurosurgery, Dalhousie University from 1987 to 1994 before serving as Director of The UWI Clinical Training Programme in Nassau Bahamas from April-October 2000.

Professor Holness was President of the Canadian Neurological Society, (1995- 1996) and Chairman of the Examining Board in Neurosurgery, Royal College of Physicians of Canada from 1997 to 2000. The Department of Surgery, Radiology, Anaesthesia and Intensive care extends congratulations to this outstanding graduate. Presently, Professor Holness gives back to his Alma Mater, in his capacity as Professor and Examiner in Neurosurgery in the DM (UWI) Neurosurgery Programme and teaches surgical residents and medical students at the Cornwall Regional Hospital.

Businesswoman and Retired Diplomat

Described by She Caribbean magazine as a “dynamo moving the region forward”, Barbadian born Kay McConney has leveraged her multi-faceted talents to champion the interests of Barbados, the Caribbean and small vulnerable economies (SVEs) internationally. Kay’s distinguished service extended to international diplomacy, international development, and international trade. She served as a high-level diplomat at the United Nations (UN) in Geneva, Switzerland; and as a trade negotiator at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). As an international development consultant, her work on programmes of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was published by the European Commission (EC). She has served as an expert resource, leading capacity building consultancies for international development programmes in the Caribbean, sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID); the United Nations Development Program (UNDP); and other international organisations.

She was the youngest Consul-General to be appointed by Barbados when she blazed trails in Canada as Dean of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Consular Corps, piloting such stellar initiatives as the Caribbean-Canadian Literary Expo (CCLE). CCLE brought together Caribbean and Canadian publishing companies and literary artistes from across fourteen Caribbean countries to open minds and build bridges for the development of the region’s literary industry. Over the past twenty years, Kay has been a champion for entrepreneurship development in the Caribbean region. She has collaborated on enterprise and youth initiatives sponsored by the Organization of American States (OAS); and in 2016 she was awarded for leadership by the Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme (YES) of Barbados - the country’s signature national programme for emerging entrepreneurs, which she spearheaded in 1995.

Currently, Kay McConney heads The Executive Minds, a company she founded in 2009. The Executive Minds specialises in strengthening institutional and individual capacities for 21st century environments, through training, coaching and consulting. TEM works with governments, non-profit organisations, private businesses and international development agencies. Its reach extends from Canada to the Caribbean, with a brand that combines neuroscience, systems thinking and strategic coaching. In the Caribbean and Latin America region, The Executive Minds has impacted some thirty organisations. In 2014, Kay collaborated with international best-selling author, David Krueger M.D., as a contributing author to his book, Successful Life Story Transformations: Using the ROADMAP® System to Change Mind, Brain and Behaviour.

Outside of work, voluntary community service keeps Kay anchored. In Canada, she has been a Training Facilitator for the Canadian Multicultural LEAD Organisation for Mentorship and Training for the past eight years. She serves on the Program Advisory Committee (PAC) of the Ryerson University-based, Lifelong Learning Institute’s Leadership By Design Program. She was an expert resource for York University’s (former) Global Leaders Retreat. South African Women for Women has honoured her for building cultural bridges beyond the Caribbean community with their Friendship Award. She was awarded for community leadership by the Barbadian community in Canada for the establishment of their premier event, which funds educational scholarships and sponsors health-care initiatives that benefit Barbados and the Caribbean.

Dr. Paul Steinbok was born in Barbados and did his medical training at The
University of the West Indies in Jamaica. After an internship in Toronto and a
residency in Neurosurgery in Vancouver at the University of British Columbia,
Dr. Steinbok became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada in
Neurosurgery in 1977. After completing a Medical Research Council of Canada
research fellowship to the University of North Carolina and Duke University
in North Carolina, he returned to Vancouver, and has been practicing as a
neurosurgeon in Vancouver since March 1979. Since 1985, he has limited his
practice to pediatric neurosurgery.

He has been Head of the Division of Neurosurgery and Chairman of the Pediatric
Neurosurgery Fellowship program at BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver from July 1984 until December 2013. He is
the Medical Director of the Neurosciences program. Dr. Steinbok is a Professor at the University of British Columbia, in
the Department of Surgery. He has over 200 publications in peer reviewed journals and chapters in textbooks. His recent
research efforts have centered on investigating neurosurgical procedures for tethered cord syndrome in children with
urinary dysfunction, and he is leading a multicentered study in Canada and the U.S. to investigate this issue. He is also
the lead investigator in a multicentered Canadian study of thalamic tumours in children and a North American study of
eosinophilic granulomas in children. He is on the Editorial Board of Child’s Nervous System and is on the review panel
for many scientific journals.

He has been President of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery (ISPN). He has been on the executive of
the Section of Pediatric Neurosurgery of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons/Congress of Neurological
Surgery and the American Society for Pediatric Neurosurgeons. He has been invited nationally and internationally as
a visiting professor and as a guest lecturer. As a past Chair of the Education Committee of the International Society
of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Dr. Steinbok has taken a major interest in international education of neurosurgeons in the
field of pediatric neurosurgery. He has organized many international courses about pediatric neurosurgery in Argentina,
Singapore, India, Morocco, Colombia, Costa Rica and China.