Click and drag image to right to see full photo
“The basis of my achievements is guidance from God and the strong support of my family and friends for all my endeavours, from childhood into adulthood. UWI offered me the opportunity to combine a clinical career in developmental and behavioural paediatrics with research in the field, in my own country and region, where I wished to place my focus…I would like my research into child development and behaviour to make a real difference to the lives and outcomes of Jamaican children.”

Professor Maureen Samms-Vaughan

PROFESSOR OF CHILD HEALTH, CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND BEHVIOUR
DEPARTMENT OF OBSTETRICS, GYNAECOLOGY AND CHILD HEALTH
FACULTY OF MEDICAL SCIENCES
MONA CAMPUS, JAMAICA
Tel: (876) 927-1446 • Email: msamms@cwjamaica.com

PROFILE

Maureen Samms-Vaughan distinguished herself at high school where she was recognised for outstanding academic performance and voted class valedictorian. She pursued a career in paediatrics at UWI, Jamaica where the Paediatric Association of Jamaica recognised her as the most outstanding paediatric graduate (1988). She joined the research team of the Jamaican Perinatal Study, and was awarded a Carnegie Corporation Research Fellowship to read for a PhD in Epidemiology at the University of Bristol, UK. She also pursued clinical training in developmental and behavioural paediatrics there. In 1993, Professor Samms-Vaughn was appointed Lecturer in Child Health, UWI and Consultant Developmental and Behavioural Paediatrician, University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI). She was promoted to Senior Lecturer and was appointed Head, Department of Child Health in 2001, and in 2007 was appointed the UWI’s first Professor of Child Health and Child Development. She established the Child and Family Clinic for developmental and behavioural disorders, directing this service since its inception. Professor Samms-Vaughn became the first Chairman of the Early Childhood Commission (ECC), Government of Jamaica in 2003 and was seconded to the ECC for three years. She received a research award (Best Publication) from The UWI in 2004. She was the Distinguished Grace Kennedy Lecturer in 2006 and has been recognized by her preparatory and high school alma maters (Vaz Prep, Excelsior High, Jamaica) as an outstanding past student. In recognition of her contribution to national development, she was awarded the Commander of the Order of Distinction for services to early childhood development and child health in 2007.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Professor Samms-Vaughan research has focused on the comprehensive identification of factors influencing children’s development through childhood. She has led one of the earliest and most comprehensive longitudinal studies of child development in a developing country. The Jamaican Birth Cohort studies have followed some 1,700 children from birth in 1986 to age 20 years. The Profiles Project, focusing on early childhood development, has followed children at age six, with follow-up to 11 years. The comprehensive nature of the studies has led to policy and programmatic interventions in the development of Jamaica’s National Parenting Policy, the improvement of early childhood development, interventions to reduce violent and aggressive behaviours and guidelines on television viewing by the Broadcasting Commission. Research on the impact of fatherhood on hormones was recently featured on National Geographic television.