THERE ISNT A LINK IDENTIFYING THE FOLLOWING, WAS E-MAILED TO ME RECENTLY:

Jamaican-born scientist making strides in nerve research
Who would have thought that a little girl from Darliston in Westmoreland would turn out to be a First World scientist who may have discovered a new way to repair damaged nerves?

Now living in Canada, Jamaican-born Dr Patrice Smith and her colleagues at Harvard have discovered a way to repair damaged nerves by allowing the adult brain to respond to repair signals that are induced after injury

. Dr Smith explained to Flair in an interview, that as we get older, we lose the ability to repair damage to the brain and spinal cord, because our nervous system is actively preventing the immune system from sending out repair messages. If we get a cold, for example, the immune system kicks in and helps with our recovery. However, if our brain or spinal cord is damaged, this repair message is blocked. What they have discovered is that this mechanism is blocked by a molecule called SOCS3.
“In the absence of SOCS3, the damaged nerves were able to regenerate themselves in an adult. My hope is that the research will help people who suffer from brain and spinal-cord injuries by helping to repair the injuries they may have received in an accident, or just through the natural ageing process,” said Dr Smith.
A curious child
She said she has always been interested in how things work. As a child she was very good at taking apart small appliances and seeing whether she could put them back together.
Her interest in how the brain works began when she migrated to Canada, and took up a summer research job in a neuroscience lab at the University of Ottawa, Canada.
Dr Smith grew up with her grandparents because her mother Elaine, was just 18 years old when she was born and had to move to Kingston to find work. Her mother later got married and migrated to Canada. Dr Smith joined her after completing her studies at Mannings High school in 1995 at the age of 18.
Her CXC results were not recognised in Canada, so she had to repeat her final year in a Canadian high school. She excelled and obtained a scholarship

to attend the University of Ottawa. She received the highest average in her graduating year and was awarded a medal by the Ottawa-Carleton education school board. “I felt that my Jamaican education provided a strong framework for this,” she told Flair.
After completing her doctorate in 2005, she received a scholarship from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to attend Harvard University, which was where she began her current research. The research took about two years to complete. “I am currently working on extending this research in my own lab back in Canada to look at ways of functionally repairing damaged nerves, following spinal cord and brain injury.”

Quick google search coughed up this link: http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20100104/flair/flair2.html

"I felt that my Jamaican education provided a strong framework for this". I've heard this so often while living here in the USA. It seems the British left us with at least one good thing, a good primary education system. This is proven time and time again by kids in the diaspora.

Congratulations to Dr Smith [updated by TBNet]. Keep up the great work.

My apologies to Dr Smith. I tried to cancel my previous email but it was too late. Obviouly I meant SMITH and not King. Dr King (Martin) must have been on my mind.

I can second that fantastic, my British born daughter was educated in Jamaica and came back to go to university here. I had faith in the Jamaican system of education so it wasn't an issue for me, having being born raised and educated there myself. Before she went to Jamaica she wanted to be a hairdresser because her abilities were not recognised by the school here, quite a common occurrence in Britain with our children of Caribbean heritage who are often written off before they even start school. Believe me I could write a book on our experience. Thank god for her Jamaican education, she is on her way to becoming a qualified corporate lawyer and I have great faith that she will be very successful in her field. I did read the piece in the Gleaner when I saw it and drew my daughter's attention to it; needless to say she agreed with the sentiments.

I second that Beth. The same has happened right here in the U.S.A. We are often judged by our accents, not our ability to study and excel, but we have proven them wrong, time and time again.

I had a similar experience to beth. My british born daughter went to Jamaica and was educated there. She was never really given the chance to excel while in England,and the teachers would constantly send home letters for her to join the school sports teams, as it seemed to them that thats all she would be good at. However,the education she recieved while attending Hampton, benifited her greatly, and she is now studying to be a doctor. She always says that it was one of the best desicions that we made for her. I truely believe, that if black people are given the chance that they can achieve so much. God bless Jamaica and its education system

Hi Gloria, I have lost count of the number of times my daughter has thanked me for the decision I took to have her educated in Jamaica. Local Authorities in England are now better informed about the Jamaican system of education and I was present once when an education officer told a parent who was missing her son who was at school in Jamaica not to bring him back as they could not guarantee him the equivalent standard of education. I have spoken to a number of Jamaican teachers recruited to teach in UK schools and one of many complaints is the tendency for their British colleagues to write off whole communities thus failing to recognise the children's potential and banishing them to the scrapheap of the social underclass.The fact that some of these parents are educated goes completely off the radar in a society where your colour and ethnicity determine how far you can go academically.If a child is constantly being told they are useless and will not achieve they start believing it and see school as a pointless exercise that leads to nowhere. I know the Jamaican system is not perfect and that some children do fall through the net when the financial support is not available.I have nothing but praise for Jamaican teachers who achieve a lot more on less than half the resources of their rich British counterparts.My daughter was stereotyped and her enthuiasm for learning was seen as a problem. In Jamaica on the other hand this energy was nurtured and her teacher told her she would make a good lawyer- what a difference,not that it came as any surprise to me. Here in the UK the fact that I was supportive to my daughter made me a pushy and uppity parent, a little above my station I suppose and yes a problem. We hear a lot of negatives about Jamaica but all I can say is that I thank god I was raised there because I would never have apreciated its rich potential and what it has to offer. It's made me the fighter that I am and without this spirit I dread to think where my daughter would be today.To those of you supporting education charities in Jamaica your money is not wasted and it is going to a good cause. My daughter is giving back too and I am very proud of her.

hey beth,
after my daughter came back to england, they wrote off her education in Jamaica, and put her in all the bottom classes, saying that they werent sure of how good her education was. however they soon realised that they understeimated the education she recieved. My daughter is proud of her education she recieved in Jamaica, and continually says that once she has qualified, she wants to set up her own practice in Jamaica, and she set up a scholarship fund, for those pupils who who less well off.
It does make you wonder about all those youngsters in England who have the opportunity to excel, but yet choose not to, while those in Jamaica, simply have the potential but cannot afford it.

is there a biography for her please i want to find one or is this her biography.

I hope Tamera Dr P will write one.That would be nie