THE WORK OF THE MISSIONS ABROAD

LONDON

viagra canada mind times;”>LONDON — Ambassador Thomas Neisinger, Regional Director for Latin America and The Caribbean at Germany’s Federal Foreign Office, paid a courtesy call on His Excellency Eldred Bethel, Bahamas High Commissioner, on Wednesday, January 28, 2015. They discussed the upcoming Germany-CARICOM Conference March 2-3, 2015. There was also economic and political dialogue, focusing on global developments, areas of mutual interest and cooperation such as developments in Eastern Europe and Climate Change. The Germany-CARICOM Conference is expected to offer opportunity for delegates to meet with the business community and EU-LAC Foundation officials.

WASHINGTON

During his visit to Washington, D.C. along with Prime Minister Perry Christie for the inaugural Caribbean Energy Summit hosted by United States Vice President Joseph Biden on Monday, January 26, 2015, Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell used the occasion of a reception held at the Aztec Patio of the Organization of American States (OAS) main building for young Bahamian professionals working in the D.C. area and Bahamian students attending universities in the area to officially launch the Bahamas Embassy’s new website, which was highlighted on a screen set up in the reception area. A regular item on the website will be a feature on the accomplishments of a BAHAMIAN IN THE DIASPORA. Following is the first such feature:

DR. ROGER L. WEIR HAS HAD A DISTINGUISHED CAREER IN THE FIELD OF MEDICINE

By OSWALD T. BROWN

WASHINGTON, D.C

. — There is no disputing the fact that the most widely acclaimed BAHAMIAN IN THE DIASPORA is Sir Sidney Poitier, KBE, the Bahamian-American actor, film director, author and diplomat. Although he was born in Miami, Florida, on February 20, 1927, Sir Sidney’s Bahamian roots are deeply planted in Cat Island, where his parents, Evelyn and Reginald Poitier, owned a farm and were actually in Miami selling produce from that farm when Sir Sidney was born.

According to Wikipedia, Sir Sidney was born two months prematurely and “was not expected to survive, but his parents remained in Miami for three months to nurse him to health” before returning to The Bahamas, where he spent his boyhood years before moving to Miami to live with a brother.

Of course, Sir Sidney’s remarkable life story and how he became one of the world’s leading actors is clearly the reason why he is the most widely acclaimed Bahamian in the Diaspora, but there are a number of Bahamians whose achievements in their chosen careers are just as stellar as Sir Sidney’s achievements as an actor. It is from the pool of accomplished Bahamians living abroad that we will select an individual for our BAHAMIANS IN THE DIASPORA monthly feature for The Bahamas Embassy’s website.

The first outstanding Bahamian we have chosen to feature in this regard is Dr. Roger L. Weir MD (MB,BS), who has had a distinguished career in the field of medicine, including more than four decades in some capacity at historic Howard University Hospital and its predecessor Freedmen’s Hospital in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Weir was born in the West Street/Meeting Street neighborhood of Nassau in 1941. He is the third child of the late Gaspar Weir, a successful land surveyor, and the late Eunice Weir, a teacher, both of whom attended one of the older high schools in The Bahamas. The Weirs were long-term Methodists who placed a great deal of emphasis on their children receiving a good education. Dr. Weir has an older brother, Rev. Dr. Emmett Weir, one of The Bahamas’ well-known theologians, and his sisters Miriam and Sheila have also carved out successful careers in their chosen fields.

Dr. Weir recalls that the “home atmosphere had some academic qualities that were reinforced by a grand-aunt Lillian Weir, a former librarian, and her brother Charles Weir, who spoke glowingly of his days at Tuskegee Institute.”

During his teenage years young Roger Weir developed an interest in brain functions and psychiatry and at the age of 18, he left The Bahamas to finish advanced high school and later enter training at London University.

“My medical schooling was at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, one of the oldest hospitals of the English speaking world,” Dr. Weir recalls. “I did a medical and surgery internship in the United Kingdom and in 1967 began a psychiatry internship at Harlem Hospital in Manhattan, New York. In 1968 I began a three-year neurology residency at Kings County/Downstate hospitals in Brooklyn, New York. My work there included a movement disorder clinic managed by Arthur Lapovsky.”

Dr. Weir’s more than four decades at Howard University started in 1971 when he was hired as an instructor of neurology at Freedmen’s Hospital, the forerunner of Howard University Hospital, and he “initially worked there half-time while I also worked doing bench research at the National Institutes of Health.”

In 1967, Freedmen’s Hospital, which had served the black community in Washington, D.C. for more than a century, having been established in 1862, was transferred to Howard University and used as a hospital until 1975. The University Hospital is now located in a modern facility at 2041 Georgia Avenue, NW.

“My basic science research continued for over 15 years while working full-time in neurology at Howard,” Dr. Weir says.

In 1973 he became an assistant professor of neurology and subsequently an associate professor, which is his current position.

From 1990 to 1995 he was Chairman of the Department of Neurology.

Academically he has published several dozen refereed papers, covering both the basic sciences and clinical topics. Anticonvulsant mechanisms; dopamine, serotonin and methyl-xanthine metabolism were studied. Parkinson’s, dementia, stroke and ethics are among the fields of academic presentations and neurology lectures.

“Working at Howard/Freedmen’s hospital allows for great clinical experiences,” Dr. Weir says. “Additionally, the hospital has a formal and real mission to accommodate the underserved.”

Oswald T. Brown is the Press, Cultural Affairs and Information Manager with The Embassy of The Bahamas in Washington, D.C.

NNPA HOLDING MID-WINTER MEETING IN NASSAU

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The annual mid-winter meeting of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), whose membership includes the Publishers and Editors of all the Black-owned newspapers in the United States, opens at the British Colonial Hilton in Nassau, Bahamas, this Wednesday, January 28 and will run through Saturday, January 31.

The President of the NNPA is Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., the noted civil rights leader and a former President of the NAACP.

Deputy Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis is scheduled to address the publishers and editors on Thursday at their gala dinner.

In preparation for the Nassau meeting, Dr. Chavis and Mrs. Denise Rolark-Barnes, Publisher and Editor of the Washington Informer, an NNPA award-winning member newspaper in Washington, D.C., paid a courtesy call in December on His Excellency Dr. Eugene Newry, Bahamas Ambassador to the United States.

ATLANTA

For immediate release

27 January 2015 
By Arthia Nixon, The Ambassador Agency 
Photos: Gianne Demeritte
for Bahama Consul General of Atlanta

(Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) Bahamas Consul General Randy E. Rolle is already planning on making another trip to Oklahoma to visit with Bahamians he did not have the opportunity to meet on his first diplomatic trip to the state. Even though Rolle’s office is based in Atlanta, he represents Bahamians in over 10 states, including Oklahoma and those neighboring Georgia.
“I am so proud of the way Bahamians are representing us in the state of Oklahoma,” Rolle beamed. “I met with some students who are eager to graduate and share their skills with the nation, with those who are residents doing extremely well in their professions, and even a former student now a youth minister with a thriving ministry.”

“I have to thank our team who did a tremendous job getting the word out prior to our visit and being there to register Bahamians with our office once we arrived in Oklahoma,” said Rolle. “Many Bahamians did not know the Atlanta office represented Oklahoma and those we met expressed that they felt we made the effort to show how much we care by physically meeting with them and encouraging them to be in constant communication with us.”

Having already secured opportunities for Bahamians wishing to study in Atlanta, Rolle also had the opportunity to meet with executives at the University of Central Oklahoma to discuss potential alliances. The Bahamas Consul General was greeted to the UCO campus by Office of Global Affairs representatives Dennis Dunham, Ph.D Executive Director and Aaron Wheelbarger, Senior Advisor, International Admissions.

“I’m most excited about the potential partnership,” said Rolle of his meeting with the team. “Already, Bahamians have made their mark at this institution and we would love for that trend to continue. Overall though, this has been a successful trip and I am most excited to return in short order.”