By Damion Mitchell, Staff ReporterLISA MYERS, 33, the chief plant protection health officer in the Ministry of Agriculture, is the recipient of the first George N. Agrios Doctor of Plant Medicine (DPM), Award for outstanding academic and professional achievements in plant medicine.
The DPM award is named in honour of George Agrios, a former chairman of the University of Florida's Plant Pathology Department.
Dr. Myers, a member of the first batch of students to enrol in plant medicine at the University of Florida's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in 2000, was given the award recently at her graduation in Gainesville, Florida.
"As a Caribbean woman and a Jamaican national, I am pretty honoured being the first recipient of this award," she told The Gleaner.
During her course of study, the Latin America Caribbean Scho-larship winner attained a grade point average of 3.95, with four being the highest, at the University of Florida.
LOVE OF AGRICULTURE
Lisa, a past student of the Immaculate Conception High School, Constant Spring Road, St. Andrew, enrolled at the University of the West Indies, Mona in 1988 after graduating from high school the same year.
She had planned to study medicine, but her love of agriculture led to her pursuing a Bachelor's degree in biochemistry with a minor in botany and zoology and later a Master's degree in plant virology.
In 1996, she was employed by the Ministry of Agriculture as a plant protection health officer at the Bodles Research Station, St. Catherine, and by 1999, she was promoted to chief plant protection officer.
DEVELOPING SECTOR
Dr. Myers is looking towards twinning her experience with her training to further develop the agricultural sector, which, she says, has not been prioritised by government.
"The training that I have received will go a long way in not just assisting our farmers but training and preparing other young people to provide better services in plant protection," she said.
She said that optimal success in agriculture, particularly as it related to pest management, would require a new approach.
"We talk about an integrated pest-management approach but it has not been practised anywhere, so it is going to be a challenge," she said.
