Dr. Joan Rawlins has until recently, been a member of the academic staff of the UWI ( Trinidad) where she worked as a Senior Lecturer/ Medical Sociologist, in the Department of Para-clinical Sciences, Faculty of Medical Sciences. She was employed in that faculty from 1996 - 2012.
In the 1980's Dr. Rawlins worked as a Medical Sociologist in the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, UWI, Mona, and later in the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER), UWI, Mona, Jamaica. Dr. Rawlins holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Social Administration and Sociology and a Master of Science Degree in Sociology from The University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica. She received her PhD, in Development Studies from the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, Netherlands.
Dr Rawlins has had a very close association with Gender Studies since the mid 1980’s and was involved with Women and Development matters, first on the Mona Campus and later as a member of the then Women and Development Studies group here at St. Augustine. Indeed her Ph.D fellowship was facilitated as a result of her involvement with the then Women and Development Group on the Mona Campus in the 80s.
Dr. Rawlins has researched and published on issues such as widowhood, the experiences of older women, the health service, domestic violence, women's health and teenage pregnancy. In the past two and a half decades however, she has been most concerned with issues relating to ageing and older persons in the Caribbean. In 1999, The United Nations declared “Year of the Older Person” Dr. Rawlins was the initiator and coordinator of a successful conference on the “Older Person” in Trinidad and Tobago. The Theme of the Conference, which was held at the Faculty of Medical Sciences was "Maturing at a Healthy Pace: Appreciating the Older Years". She also assisted in the coordination of the UWI/ECLAC Caribbean Symposium on Population Ageing which was held in Trinidad, in November 2004.
Dr. Rawlins was a key member of the Trinidad and Tobago government-appointed Inter-Ministerial Committee on Ageing, which developed the National Policy on Ageing which came into being in 2007. Within academia she introduced a module called “Social and Ethical Issues in Ageing” to the curriculum of Year Five medical students. She is a former Director of the Alzheimer's disease Association of Trinidad and Tobago and participated in all of the annual events which celebrated the World Alzheimer's Disease month (WAM) between the years 2007-2013. These included national TV and Radio interviews. She is the author of five books (5) which include:"Ageing: Discussing the issues in Trinidad", "Midlife and Older Women, Family Life, Work and Health", “Sixty Years and on in Trinidad and Tobago”, and most recently “Ageing in the Caribbean”, which she co- edited with Dr. Nicole Alea.
Dr. Joan Rawlins is married to the highly regarded academic Dr. Samuel Rawlins and they have three children. Dr. Rawlins retired from fulltime employment with the University of the West Indies in 2012. She and her husband now reside in St. Kitts. In June 2014, Dr. Rawlins founded the Alzheimer’s Association of St. Kitts and Nevis, which is now actively serving the needs of the people there.
LIST OF AWARDEES
Trinidad & Tobago Association of Retired Persons