Shemala Mitchell to deliver Hugh Lawson Shearer Memorial Lecture
SHEMALA MITCHELL Pullen, broadcast journalist with the RJRGLEANER Communication Group, is this year’s choice for delivering the Most Hon Hugh Lawson Shearer Memorial Lecture at the 25th annual International Diabetes Conference. The conference takes place at Jewel Resort, Runaway Bay, St Ann, from April 25 to 27. Her presentation will be on Friday, April 26, at 10 a.m on the topic ‘The Media in Healthcare Alertness.’
Mitchell Pullen will also receive a citation and award named for Shearer, a former Jamaican prime minister who lived with diabetes for some 50 years. She will receive the award for outstanding media support in promoting awareness of non-communicable diseases.
The 2019 University Diabetes Outreach Programme (UDOP) awardee has served for some eleven years producing and presenting television programmes at Television Jamaica (TVJ), as well as reporting on health issues and other areas of national importance. She currently produces and presents the ‘Health Report’ (since 2009), which seeks to educate viewers on issues pertaining to their health, and ‘A Ray of Hope’, which highlights human interest stories. She is also a member of the production team for the Dionne Jackson Miller hosted ‘All Angles’ on TVJ and ‘Beyond the Headlines’ on RJR Radio.
Mitchell Pullen’s interest in non-communicable diseases has allowed her to attend and cover the International Diabetes Federation Conference held in Brazil in 2009. She is the winner of a number of awards, including the 2017 Medical Association of Jamaica Special Award for long, dedicated and outstanding reporting on health in the service of the society at large and the TVJ News Centre Staff of the Quarter Award on three occasions between 2016 and 2017.
She is currently pursuing a Master of Science degree in health administration at the University of Technology, Jamaica. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication studies (with an emphasis on public relations) from Northern Caribbean University.