The research interests of the faculty at the FMS are quite diverse and involve a multi-disciplinary approach to addressing specific research projects.

This strategy will include the use of biochemical, molecular, pharmacological and immunocytochemical approaches in addressing specific basic science and clinical research projects.

It is also anticipated that research interests of the faculty will continue to be focused to a great extent on chronic and degenerative diseases (diabetes, atherosclerosis, heart disease and stroke) that impact the lives of citizens in Barbados and the greater Caribbean region.

The faculty's main research arm is the Chronic Disease Research Centre (the CDRC), established in 1992 and now attached also the Tropical Medicine Research Institute. The CDRC has an outstanding track record, with research on diabetes, hypertension, stroke, eye disease, cancer and lupus, with funding from the Wellcome Trust of the UK and the National Institutes of Health of the USA.

The approval of the Cave Hill Campus as a Centre of Excellence by the Consortium for Southeastern Hypertension Control (COSEHC) in 2010 has the potential to create opportunities for collaborative research. A group headed by Dr. Damian Cohall and Dr. Kenneth Connell is currently preparing general research proposals and terms of reference for the relationship.

In February 2011, the Faculty participated in the Campus Annual Research Day activities. This highly successful event included seminars on Vascular Health and Sports Medicine, open-house demonstrations by staff from the Chronic Diseases Research Centre and a public lecture by Professor Everard Barton, Professor of Medicine and Nephrology at the UWI Mona Campus.

FMS Laboratory and Teaching Complex: Construction of this building was completed and the building was officially declared open by the Principal, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, on October 22, 2009. The three storey building has a 200 person capacity lecture theatre, multimodal and multidisciplinary teaching labs and research labs. In addition to classrooms and laboratories, the building houses a state of the art research facility, designed in a modular fashion, in order to accommodate the research efforts and needs of the faculty’s basic science investigators. The research space will soon be fully equipped with core research equipment to support the basic science discovery efforts of the FMS scientific teams.

Research in Progress: 

Dr. Damian Cohall, Lecturer in Pharmacology

• REnoVascular function Ethnicity Renin Endothelial Dysfunction – Barbados Observational Study

Summary: The project will be examining the prevalence of salt sensitive in Barbados and to look at the way it might be linked to the relatively impaired vascular function seen in the region. The objectives of the study are:

• To determine the prevalence of salt sensitive state healthy volunteers
• To examine whether this state is independent of salt intake
• To examine the health of arteries by means of noninvasive techniques to determine a possible correlation to this salt sensitive state.
• A Comparison of Medicinal Plants’ Chemical Components, within Their Respective Plant Families, with Established Drug Compounds Used to TREAT non-communicable Diseases, microbial Infections and Communicable Diseases in Barbados

Summary: It is the intent of this study while only focusing on the medicinal plants of Barbados to demonstrate that through investigation of the chemical properties of these plants within their respective families that some of these folklore claims can be preliminary validated due similarities of the plants chemical components to established drug compounds.

• Drug – Herb Interaction: Database of Medicinal Plants of the Caribbean and Possible Interactions with Conventional Medication

Summary: The aim of this project to identify medicinal plants used to treat common ailments observed in the Caribbean and to create a database of these plants outlining their taxonomy, folklore uses, bioactive compounds, documented or possible drug-herb interactions and toxicity. The database will be applicable to primary care physicians, pharmacists and will be used in public education campaigns for the promotion of best practices for the use of herbal remedies for the treatment of diseases.

• The Use of Herbal Remedies and the Perception of Their Use in the Barbadian Population

Summary: The aim of this study is to determine the extent of herbal remedy use within the Barbadian population, to decipher the Barbadians’ perception for use of these remedies, including their physicians, and influences which has fostered the use of these practices.

Dr. Uma Gaur, Senior Lecturer in Anatomy

Submitted – for ethical approval

• Development and validation of the Osteoporosis Risk Assessment Criteria to facilitate selection of women for further investigations.

Evaluation methods – to work out an effective and accurate method of evaluation - A comparative study of evaluation methods in various institutes.

Dr. Nkemcho Ojeh, Lecturer in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology

• Investigating the cellular mechanisms of keloid and hypertrophic scar formation in the Barbadian population

Start date: May 2009 (On-going)

• Health of the Nation Project

Start date: October 2010

• An in vitro study to investigate the effects of caffeine on wound healing

Start date: December 2011

• Fenzian for Asthma pilot study

Start date: May 2011

Dr. Alaya Udupa, Senior Lecturer in Pharmacology

• An in vitro study to investigate the effects of caffeine on wound healing: Grant application submitted on Jan 2010. Revised application submitted on 11th of March to Dr. David Rosin -Dept of Surgery – QEH.

Brief methodology:

• Isolation and culture of skin fibroblasts and keratinocytes.
• MTT proliferation assay.
• Immunocytochemistry of isolated cells.
• Does learning style preference correlate with performance? A proposed study among students in F.M.S, Law, Pure & Applied Sciences, Social Sciences & Humanities in U.W.I.-Cave Hill Campus. Sent for IHEC – Clearance.

Projects Planned for 2011- during study travel leave:

• A Study for utilization of library among students and faculty of various disciplines in U.W.I.
• Hepatoprotective effect of Hepatoguard (an Ayurvedic medicinal preparation) and its possible mechanism.
• Hepatoprotective effect of Liv52 and its possible mechanism on CCl4 alcohol, and paracetamol induced liver damage in rats.

Dr. Yasodananda Kumar Areti, Lecturer in Anaesthesia & Intensive Care

Post Graduate Research Projects

(Supervisor: Kumar AY)

• Keisha Thomas-Gibson: Patient’s knowledge and concerns regarding anaestheisa and the level of their satisfaction with the anaesthetic services in Barbados.  A Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctorate of Medicine in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care of the University of the West Indies
• Tamara Tracey Semei: Mortality and the outcomes in patients treated in Adult Intensive Care Units (ICU) in Barbados. (Data has been collected and currently being analysed.  This project was supported by Grant of Bds $ 5,412.00 from the Campus research awards fund). 
• Tamara Greaves: Evaluation of nutrition practices and their impact on patient morbidity and mortality in the Adult Intensive Care Units of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.  (Approval of QEH ethics committee has been obtained.  Data is being collected)
• Karisha Hinkson: A comparative study of common anaesthetic techniques for lower limb surgery in Barbados.  (Approval of QEH ethics committee has been obtained.  Data is being collected)

Dr. Euclid Morris, Lecturer in Family Medicine

• Workplace violence in the health sector in a Developing Country: A survey of violence against staff in government operated primary care facilities in Barbados
• University of the West Indies (UWI) Cave Hill Staff Chronic Non-Communicable Disease (CNCD) Risk Factor Survey 2010

Dr. Anders Nielsen, Senior Lecturer in Medicine

• Simulation: Project aiming at the improvement of patient flow in healthcare and building disease models using discrete event simulation. In collaboration with Professor N. Kissoon, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

Two subprojects are currently active:

• Building discrete event simulation model of the dialysis population in Barbados and analyzing mortality data (1980-2010) for patient in the Barbados Dialysis Program in collaboration with Dr E. Mohammed. Have retrospectively collected key-data from 1979 when Hemodialysis started in Barbados and up to 2010.

Output from this subproject so far:

• Anders Lassen Nielsen & Emile P. Mohammed. Using discrete event simulation to predict the need for renal replacement therapy resources, ERA-EDTA 2010 congress, Munich, Germany, June 25-28, 2010.
• Nielsen, A. L.; Kumar, A; Nielsen P.L.; Petersen S. Transforming Evidence to Practice; -Knowing the Consequences before Implementation. Accepted for presentation on Evidence 2011-Transforming health Care, London, UK, October 24-26, 2011
• Building discrete event simulation model of disease burden.

Output from this subproject so far:

• MPH student dissertation project by Walter A. Alleyne. Modeling of a Potential Novel Influenza A Pandemic in Barbados: The Macroeconomic Impact and The Capacity Burden on The Health Care System. August 2011.
• The Study of Life Quality and Depression in Diabetic Patients in Barbados. In collaboration with S Petersen, Dr M. Campbell, Dr C. Goddard, Faculty of Medical Sciences University of the West Indies. Cave Hill, Barbados, Dr. M. Krimholtz, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Barbados and Professor L.E. Kazis, Boston University School of Public Health and Veterans Administration Medical Center, Bedford Massachusetts, USA. Data collection is finished.
• Is there a Caribbean Lipid Profile in Type 2 Diabetes? In collaboration with Dr. M. Krimholtz, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Barbados and Professor S. Madsbad, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
• Atherosclerotic Disease Load among Afro-Caribbean and Caucasian Diabetic Patients. In collaboration with primary investigator Professor H. Savolainen, Professor I Hambleton Faculty of Medical Sciences University of the West Indies. Cave Hill, Barbados Dr. A. Harris, Dr. J. Gill, Dr. R. Jonnalagadda Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Barbados , Dr. P. Vikatmaa Helsinki University Central Hospital and Dr. J. Brookes University College Hospital London, UK.
• Patient Safety. Have started the Barbados Chapter for the IHI Open School, the aim is to create a forum for students/staff to interact and help each other become skilled in patient safety and quality improvement and thereby build a knowledge base for local translational research.
• Analyzing the prevalence of Dengue infections among children admitted to Queen Elizabeth Hospital with fever 2000 -2010 in collaboration with Dr Alok Kumar, Faculty of Medical Sciences University of the West Indies. Cave Hill, Barbados.
• Revising our chapter: M. H. Campbell, A. Lassen Nielsen. International Regulation and Global Ethics in Clinical Research. Chapter 15. In: Brent PL, Vernaglia LW, editors. Clinical Research Compliance Manual - An Administrative Guide. New York: Wolters Kluwer – Law & Business, 2009: p 15:01-15:30.
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Dr. Harold Watson, Lecturer in Emergency Medicine

• Prevalence of Asthma in A&E department at QEH-Collaboration with Dr Greg Diette Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Maryland
• Impact of African dust on Childhood Asthma Morbidity in Barbados with Dr Meredith McCormack, Johns Hopkins University Maryland.
• On-going collaboration with Dr Kathleen Barnes, John Hopkins University, Director, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center Genetic Research Facility & The Lowe Family Genomics Core, Baltimore on the Barbados Asthma Genome Wide Project.

A practical guide for writing a research proposal

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