Bio
Dr Natalie Greaves is a Lecturer in Public Health and Coordinator of the MPhil/PhD programme in Public Health and Epidemiology. She also coordinates the Social and Preventative Medicine Clerkship, and Health and the Environment course in the MBBS curriculum and the Primary Health Care and Qualitative Research courses in the Masters in Public Health Programme.
Natalie is an alumna of UWI herself, being awarded her MBBS in 2002, with honours in Surgery; receiving the Barbados Medical Practitioner’s Lionel Stuart award for Excellence in Surgery. In 2005 she was the recipient of Barbados National Development Scholarship and Shakespeare-Day Hospice Research Scholarship (both in Palliative Care).
In 2013, she obtained her PhD in Primary Health Care Management with a focus on Palliative Day Care from Warwick Medical School, UK and in 2014 she completed the National Cancer Institute’s Summer Curriculum on Cancer Prevention and Control. Most recently in May 2019 she completed the Palliative Care Education and Practice Course (Centre for Palliative Care, Harvard Medical School) and is actively developing palliative care education and research in the context of Public Health within the faculty.
Natalie has devoted much of her career to the development of palliative care services and education in the Caribbean. She was a founding director of the Barbados Palliative Care Association (2011), Chair of the National Advisory Committee on Chronic Pain Management with the Ministry of Health Barbados (2011-2018), and section lead for Palliative Care for the Barbados National Cancer Control Rapid Action Plan (2015-2018). She is currently a steering committee member of the Caribbean Palliative Care Association and a board member of the International Association of Hospice and Palliative Care (2023-). Natalie was also appointed as an Honorary Medical Officer of Health for the Ministry of Health and Wellness of Barbados in Dec 2021 (her responsibilities include writing cancer screening guidelines for the island).
Qualifications
- MBBS (UWI)(2002),
- PhD (The University of Warwick)- 2013,
- Post Graduate Certificate in University Teaching and Learning (UWI)- 2018
Research Areas
Natalie has had the privilege as serving Qualitative Researcher at The George Alleyne Chronic Disease Research Centre for 2017-2018. Her current research revolves around public health policy, particularly in the areas of cancer prevention control and palliative care. Natalie has brought her research expertise to the infectious disease and planetary health space, aiding in the exploration of resilience mechanisms amongst the peoples of small island/ big-ocean states. She has the good fortune of currently collaborating with colleagues regionally and internationally including those from UWI-Mona, St Augustine, Harvard University, University of Miami and Northern Caribbean University.
Title: The International Registry in Men with Advanced Prostate Cancer (IRONMAN) (Barbados Site) April 2022-present
Role: Co-PI
Principal Investigator and funding: Prof Simon Anderson; Funding-Fox Chase Cancer Centre
Project aim: To describe the molecular and clinical characteristics that affect men with a diagnosis of prostate cancer in Barbados
Title: Understanding the value of alleviating serious health-related suffering associated with chronic illness in Barbados: Qualitative Pilot. Dec 2021-present
Role: PI-Barbados
Principal investigator and Funding: Natalie Greaves; Funding-University of Miami
Project Aim: To investigate the value of averting serious health-related suffering (SHS), as an indicator of need for palliative care using qualitative methodology
Title: Improving Transgender Health: Transforming Clinical Practice Through Medical Education. March 2021-present
Role: Co PI and Lead Qualitative Researcher
Principal Investigators and Funding: Dr. Michael Campbell; Funding-UNDP. Collaborating Agencies- Butterfly- Transgender Non-Governmental Organization in Barbados.
Project Aim: To explore medical educators' understanding of transgender terminology and incorporating transgender health into existing curriculum.
Title: Psychological responses to the climate and COVID-19 crises in young people, and their agency to build the world they hope to see. April 2021- present
Role: Co PI -Barbados
Principal investigators and Funding: Dr Sandeep Maharaj. Funding- Staff Research Award-St Augustine Campus Collaborating Agencies-Imperial College London Project Aim: To explore using mixed methods the Psychological (including eco-anxiety or distress related responses to the climate and COVID-19 crises among young people
Title: Barbados Diabetes Remission Study 2: March 2018- present
Role: Co-PI and Qualitative Methodology lead
Principal Investigators and Funding: PI-Dr K Quimby; Funding: Massy Barbados Limited Collaborating Agencies- The Ellerton Wesleyan and Mount of Praise Wesleyan Holiness Churches, Abundant Life- Assembly Church-Barbados. New Testament Church of God
Title: Improving Household Nutrition Security and Public Health in the CARICOM:
March 2018-Present
Role: Member of Qualitative researcher team for St Kitts and St Vincent. (Qualitative Lead Dr
Madhuvanti Murphy)
Principal Investigators and Funding: PI- Prof T Alafia Samuels; International Development Research Centre – Amount- 4 Million CAD
Title: A Qualitative Exploration of the Factors Influencing Exclusive Breastfeeding among Women in Barbados: The Implications for Policy and Practice: Dates: March 2019 – present
Role: Co-PI:
Principal Investigators and Funding: Dr. Heather Harewood, Funding: Graduate Studies
Staff Award-
Project aim: To investigate the factors influencing the acceptability of exclusive breast feeding and to inform the development of policy and strengthening of programmes aimed at improving the rate of exclusive breastfeeding
Teaching Areas
Social and Preventative Medicine, Primary Health Care, Qualitative Research Methods, Health and the Environment, Health Services Management, Epidemiology of Priority diseases (Palliative Care), Communication in Palliative care, Medical sociology of death and dying.
Publications
1. Spence D, Austin M, Argentieri MA, Greaves N, Cox K, Chin S, Munroe M, Watson G, Harewood H, Shields AE. (2018). Palliative care in the Caribbean through the lens of women with breast cancer: challenges and opportunities. Current Breast Cancer Reports. 2018; 10(3):157-169.
2. Greaves N, Tull J, Samuels TA. (2018). Social communication to disseminate the Port-of-Spain NCD Declaration evaluation across multiple audiences in the Caribbean. Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública/Pan American Journal of Public Health. 42, 2018. doi: 10.26633/RPSP.2018.186. PMID: 31093214; PMCID: PMC6385851.
3. Stanway S, Andall-Brereton G, Barton M, Bray F, Cawich S, Dyer R, Fosker C, Gabriel O, Greaves N et. al. (2019). Cancer Control in the Caribbean Island Countries and Territories: the journey continues. The Lancet Oncology.2019; 20(9); e503-e521. PMID: 31395473.
4. Spence D, Argentieri MA, Andall-Brereton G, Andersong BO, Bodkynh C, Brayi F, Duggang C, Gibson T, Gomez Garciak W, Greaves N, et al. (2019). “Advancing cancer care and prevention in the Caribbean: a survey of promising strategies in the region”. The Lancet Oncology. 2019; 20(9): e522-e534. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(19)30516-9. PMID: 31395471.
5. Stoltenberg M, Spence D, Daubman BR, Greaves N, Edwards R, Bromfield B, Perez-Cruz P, Krakauer E, Argentieri MA, Shields AE. (2020). The Central Role of Provider Training in Implementing Resource-Stratified Guidelines for Palliative Care in LMICs: Lessons from JACCRI^ in the Caribbean and Universidad Catolica in Latin America.Cancer 2020 May 15;126 Suppl 10:2448-2457. doi: 10.1002/cncr.32857.PMID: 32348569.
6. Murphy MM, Jeyaseelan S, Howitt, Greaves N, Harewood H, Quimby KR, Sobers N, Rocke K, Landis RC, Hambleton IR. (2020). COVID-19 containment in the Caribbean: the experience of Small Island Developing States. Research in Globalization Research in Globalization. 2020 Dec; 2: 100019. Published online 2020 Aug 4. doi: 10.1016/j.resglo.2020.100019
Book Chapter 2018: Bilikisu R. Elewonibi, Shalini Pooransingh, Natalie Greaves, Linda Skaal, Tolu Oni, Maddie Murphy, Alafia Samuels, and Rhonda BeLueM. Chapter 5 in S. Winchester et al. (eds.), Global Health Collaboration, SpringerBriefs in Public Health, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77685-9_5
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Additional Info
Natalie’s, dominant research methodology is Qualitative research including applying these principles to systems dynamic modeling