Dr. Patrice Smith is a Jamaican-born scientist, now living in Canada, who is making strides in the male-dominated field of scientific research. She and her colleagues at Harvard University have the distinction of having discovered a way to repair damaged nerves by allowing the adult brain to respond to repair signals that are induced after injury. It is her hope that the research she does 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 aging process.
Dr. Smith grew up in Darliston, Westmoreland, and completed studies up to 5th form (CXC level) at Mannings High school in 1995. That year, at the age of 18, she migrated to Canada, where her CXC results were not recognized and she was forced to repeat her final year in a Canadian high school. She excelled and obtained a scholarship to attend the University of Ottawa, where, upon graduating, she received the highest average in her graduating year and was awarded a medal by the Ottawa-Carleton education school board.
Her interest in brain research peaked after a summer research job in a neuroscience lab at the University of Ottawa. After completing her doctorate in 2005, she received a scholarship from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to attend Harvard University, where she did two years of research. She is currently working on extending this research in her own lab in Canada, in order to look at ways of functionally repairing damaged nerves, following spinal cord and brain injury.
In 2008, Dr. Smith married Ryan, her best friend and biggest fan, and she currently heads a medical research lab in Canada. Kudos to Dr. Patrice Smith, one of many Jamaicans who’re making waves globally.