Deanna Ashley, CD MB, BS; DPH; DM ( Paed.)
Director
Deanna Ashley, paediatrician, and public health specialist, is a St Andrew High School Old Girl who worked for over 35 years in the public health sector at the Ministry of Health in Jamaica. She gained her medical degrees at the University of the West Indies (UWI) at Mona, Jamaica.
During her 35+ years at the Ministry of Health she directed the national Maternal and Child Health programme, the secondary and tertiary level hospital services and the Division of Health Promotion and Protection. She combined administration and management with research and conducted several major research projects, including a large cohort study of 10,000 consecutive births. She has several publications in the medical literature especially in the fields of reproductive and child health. Presently she is Executive Officer for the Violence Prevention Alliance at the UWI, Mona, as well as Hon. Research Fellow in the School of Continuing Studies and Research at UWI.
Internationally she has served on several WHO, PAHO and other technical expert and advisory committees, and on Boards of Trustees for international research centers.
Dr. Ashley has received several awards; among them Awards for Excellence from the Caribbean Health Research Council and from the Paediatric Association of Jamaica in 2007 and 2009. She has also been honoured by her university with the Pelican Award from the UWI Alumni Association in 2005; nationally with the Order of Distinction (Officer Class) in 1983 and the Order of Distinction (Commander Class) in 2005; and internationally with the World Health Award for outstanding contribution to Safe Motherhood from the American Association in 1998.