Professor Errol Morrison launches autobiography
Contributed by: Jean Shaw
IBELIEVE it’s the dream of most people to write their autobiography. For Prof Errol Morrison, that dream has come true! His autobiography will be launched at 6 p.m. on Saturday, April 27 at the Jewel Resort, Runaway Bay, St Ann, at the 25th Annual International Diabetes Conference hosted by the University Diabetes Outreach Programme (UDOP), of which he is director.
UDOP is his life’s work and its silver anniversary celebration is the perfect occasion to host this event, in the company of colleagues and friends.
He has titled his autobiography: ‘Growing Tall Pursuing Excellence’.
Professor E. Albert Reece, vice-president and dean, School of Medicine, University of Maryland, USA, will be the keynote speaker. He is a Jamaican who has collaborated with UDOP for some 24 years.
Previews of the book indicate it is an interesting and inspiring read. It traces Morrison’s early years growing up in Vineyard Town, son of a ‘high-flying’, International Goodwill Association president, Lucille Morrison, and Police Superintendent Clinton Morrison, his development and accomplishments under the watchful eyes of principal Wesley Powell, at Excelsior High School, where he was an academic and an athlete; escapades with friends; his student years at the University of The West Indies (UWI); as a student on scholarship in Malta; work experience in Europe; love, marriage and family life. The good old Jamaican values: respect and love, seen in his relationships with parents, aunts, uncles, sisters, other relatives, and the wider community, are heart-warming.
The author also shares with the reader experiences to do with colour and ethnicity while living overseas. Morrison’s narration, at times hilarious, has the reader in stitches. Sometimes you are not sure if you should laugh or cry. The pathos in this book is palpable.
Dr Morrison sees his outreach activities as an essential part of his professional journey. He is co-founder of the Diabetes Association of Jamaica (1976), co-founder of the Diabetes Association of the Caribbean (1982), he initiated the annual international diabetes conferences at UWI,
Mona in 1993 and is originator of the Mona Institute of Medical Sciences (MIMS) at UWI, Mona (1993).
There is much more! So get your own copy and find out for yourself. It will be available soon at bookshops.