Sunday, January 31, 2010

Hot on the heels of being bestowed by President Barack Obama with a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring, on January 6, 2010, Excelsior alum Prof. Patricia Martin-Deleon will be recognized by UWI as a distinguished alumna.

EXCELSIOR High School can boast a comparatively lengthy list of distinguished alumni among whom Patricia Martin-Deleon represents the very best of the best. She is a Jamaican who commands national and international recognition and whose accomplishments are soon to be formally recognised by the University of the West Indies.

This University of Delaware Trustees Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences was one of nine educators selected in 2007 for the prestigious US Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring presented by President Barack Obama at the White House on January 6. The winners are chosen by a panel of distinguished scientists, mathematicians and educators after initial selection at the state level.

It has been an adventurous journey for this unassuming Jamaican with an engaging smile; a journey laced with a range of academic accomplishments including the Presidential Award. En route to that award, Professor DeLeon received glowing tributes from scores of associates and those she mentored at Delaware, her base for more than three decades.

Candidates for the presidential award are nominated by colleagues, administrators and students from their home institutions. In nearly every nomination submitted on her behalf, she has been lauded for the passion she brings to bear on her work, her commitment to research and her addictive joie de vivre.

Professor DeLeon is known internationally for her research on genetics. A 1996 nominee for the Howard Hughes Medical Investigator Award, she has received many other honours and awards, including the National Science Foundation Career Advancement Award and the Medical Research Council of Canada Post-doctoral Fellowship.

At the main White House presentation ceremony also attended by husband Winston and son Jeffrey, the Jamaican was a standout in a two-piece emerald green knee-length suit highlighted with a floral blue scarf.

The ceremony was the culmination of four hectic days of related activities in which her immediate family participated, including her father Leonard, stepmother Flora, husband Winston, two children, Ruth and Jeffrey, and four-year-old granddaughter Alex. Clearly a high point in the distinguished career of this exemplary Jamaican, she later described the experience as "stimulating... that left me elated, inspired, and a bit exhausted at the end of the week. But I like this kind of exhaustion".

Professor DeLeon is poised to add to her growing collection of honours when the Mona campus of the UWI hosts its annual Homecoming Week of celebrations February 14 - 20.

She graduated from UWI with a BSc (Hons) in natural sciences in 1967 and an MSc in biological sciences in December 1969. The supervisor for her graduate studies was a Jamaican pioneer in pathology, Dr Molly Thorbourne, whom she credits as a positive influence on her early work. "Dr Thorbourne was instrumental in building my confidence as a researcher," she said. "She not only gave me ownership of my (published) work, something not done too often by supervisors, she also made me realise from the beginning that this was something I could do."

Patricia earned a PhD at the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada, in 1972 and then pursued post-doctoral studies at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. She has also been a visiting scientist at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and an adjunct professor at Penn State University College of Medicine.

Still committed to her Jamaican roots, Professor DeLeon has indicated to family and friends that she is looking forward to her visit home next month, especially to the UWI campus. She treasures the memories not only of her classroom experiences and involvement there with extracurricular activities such as those involving the Intervarsity Christian Movement (she remains an ardent Christian), Students' Union, and Mary Seacole Hall, but also for the countless friends - many of whom she lost touch with over the intervening decades during which she has established her base in North America. "The UWI remains close to my heart and I still hope to make a contribution to advancing its work and cementing its history."

Professor DeLeon hails from Port Maria, St. Mary, the second of nine children born to Leonard Martin and his wife Louise. She still praises her hard-working parents who spared nothing in ensuring that all nine children, including eight girls, received a solid secondary education on which to build their careers.

Despite their laudable accomplishments, the Martin siblings have withstood a challenging route from St Mary to their current substantial career positions. While most of the sisters enrolled at Excelsior, Patricia recalls that some started their secondary education at Highgate Continuation High School, run by the Quakers in St Mary. There they were provided with a solid foundation, including success in the Jamaica Local Examinations (JLE). Her older sister Yvonne was the first to be awarded a place at Excelsior and Patricia was determined to follow suit.

To do so, however, meant that her parents would not only have to dig deeper into their resources for basic school fees but would have to find an additional amount to cover the cost of the grant. Armed with a Third Year JLE certificate, she was accepted at Excelsior, when 15 years old, and assigned to 5th form. She was, however, concerned about the burden of additional fees on her parents and so determined to make strong progress. This, she hoped, would draw the attention of her teachers, leading to a waiver of the grant costs.

She was in luck. At the time Excelsior was headed by its founder, Wesley Powell, who was heralded for his belief that "age, poverty, social class or skin colour should not be impediments to securing a formal education". Powell proved to be a responsive listener and Patricia, always a convincing talker, had a compelling case. By then she had repeatedly topped the grades in her form. "I am eternally grateful to Mr Powell for giving me the chance I needed to remain at Excelsior and accomplish my goals. He was truly a visionary."

A fast learner, Patricia's improvements were outstanding and rapid. She was promoted ahead of schedule, switched from arts to the science stream when she convinced her teachers of her science and maths potential. It was no surprise to teachers and classmates when she achieved Grade 1 in the Senior Cambridge School Certificate Examinations. Like Yvonne, she subsequently won a scholarship to UWI after acing the Cambridge Higher Schools Certificate Examination. The rest, as the saying goes, is history. The epitome of the modern woman who has mastered the ability to manage successfully a career and a family at the same time, Patricia is ably supported by Winston, her Jamaican husband of more than 40 years.

Judging from her quintessential accomplishments, Professor DeLeon clearly absorbed her school motto, Age Animo (Do it with thy Might). It is to be expected that Excelsior and Continuation High past students as well as UWI alumni will be strongly represented at the gala dinner on Saturday February 20 to be addressed by Professor DeLeon, the high point of the Homecoming Week of Celebrations at Mona, when this home-grown daughter of the soil will be appropriately decorated by the university.

(c) Clare Forrester

Courtesy of the Jamaica Observer