Manmay LaKay Magazine Debut Issue | Page 76

Scientist Whitney Henry  On Quest to Find Cure for Cancer A St.Lucian Research Scientist, Whitney Henry, has moved the needle closer to finding a cure. Her findings thus far are impressive and involves that C BY MONICA VICTOR little inexpensive pill many of us, our parents and fore-parents used for pain and inflammation and ancer! A six letter word wreaking havoc on the human race. St.Lucian one that people use these days to prevent heart disease, heart attacks or stroke  — ASPIRIN. Research Scientist  Dr. Whitney Henry PH.D is on a mission to stop it in its tracks. We all know someone who is Whitney's Journey in Becoming a Research Scientist affected by or whose life has been cut short by the pervasive and nondiscriminatory Hailing from the community of Vieux-Fort, Whitney’s disease  — CANCER. Perhaps we ourselves academic journey began at the Vieux-Fort primary are in the fight of our lives, hoping, wishing, school. She then attended one of the top secondary waiting and praying that a cure is found in schools on the island  — St. Josephs Convent(SJC) our lifetime. and then went on to Sir Arthur Lewis Community College(SALCC). And so it isn't surprising that the World Health Organization (WHO), says cancer is among It was a pretty smooth trajectory up until … the leading causes of death worldwide. In 2012, 8.2 million cancer-related deaths were “After A-level I thought I'd wait for a Cuban recorded worldwide. That same year 14 scholarship to study Dentistry but that year the million new cases were reported and is government wasn’t sure if there would be any given expected to rise to 22 million within the next for this area," she recalls. "I was stuck and very two decades. These statistics are staggering. frustrated.