ROBINSON
IRISH PROFESSOR of parasitology Ralph David Robinson, based at the University of the West Indies, Mona, has the gift of the gab which he is using prodigiously in his chosen field. The professor is passionate about parasites and everyone who meets him soon finds out.
In a recent interview, the former head of life sciences and a former deputy dean of the Faculty of Pure and Applied Science explained why he finds the field so fascinating:
"To many people, parasitology may appear a creepy field but the level of adaptation fascinates me. Human beings have more than 100 parasites that can infect them and there is a considerable amount of misery and also death as a result. An example of this is the rat lung worm, a parasite of rats and snails in Jamaica which has resulted in several cases of meningitis."
The expert in parasites was born in 1956 in Northern Ireland where he lived and attended school up to university level. In 1980, he gained the B.Sc. Zoology at the Queen's University, Belfast. There, he was also awarded the Ph.D. Zoology (Helminthology) in 1984 . It was his supervisor at Queens, he said, who infected" him with a love of the highly evolved organisms.
In the last decade, the professor's passion has been well rewarded.
OUTSTANDING RESEARCH
In 2003, Professor Robinson won the Best Publication Award of The University of the West Indies (Research Day 2001) in recognition of outstanding research in the Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, The University of the West Indies, Mona.
In 2003 also, he won the Distinguished Scientist Award of The University of the West Indies (Research Day 2003) in Recognition of OutstandingResearch in the Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, The University of the West Indies, Mona.
Professor Robinson's publications are numerous. He has also received several grants of high value to pursue research at the University of the West Indies.
In addition to holding the post of professor of parasitology in the Department of Life Sciences at the University of the West Indies, Professor Robinson is also an adjunct member of the Wellcome Trust Research Centre for Parasitic Infections, Imperial College of Science and Technology, London.
The scientist is currently on sabbatical, but ordinarily, he teaches several undergraduate and graduate courses at the University of the West Indies.
Professor Robinson is married to Sobeia Robinson with two children - son, nine-year-old Kyle and daughter, seven-year-old Caitlin.
