Latest update April 23rd, 2024 12:59 AM
Dec 14, 2017 News
Founder of Eureka Labs, William Boyle, is the latest Guyanese to be nominated for the Anthony N Sabga Caribbean Awards for Excellence.
Boyle, a microbiologist who built Eureka into a respected, accredited lab that is one of the top facilities of its kind in the region, would be among persons when the four awards in different categories are given out next year.
Boyle’s nomination would see him join the likes of turtle conservationist, Annette Arjoon-Martins and Professor David Dabydeen.
According to a release from the awards committee, Boyle is a medical services entrepreneur.
The committee explained that he is the founder of the Eureka laboratory which provides state-of-the-art services to the country and region.
He has also diversified the laboratory, and his general business enterprise in other directions, like green energy and food production. EML is the premier internationally accredited lab in Guyana, one of only five such in the Caribbean.
“It is also the first and so far the only laboratory in the country to offer the SchuyNet Lab Information System (LIS) services, whereby test results can be accessed by doctors online, and in real time.”
It was explained that in the late 1980s, working for the University of Guyana, and at the Georgetown Hospital Tropical Diseases Lab as a medical microbiologist, Boyle noticed the lack of adequate and high-quality medical laboratory services in his country.
“To meet this need the EML was formed in 1995. From a start with a limited range of tests, performed manually by two staff members, EML today consists of a main laboratory in Georgetown and eight smaller collection/minor test branches within Guyana. He has subsequently introduced a wide range of the latest tests, over 1,000, as well as up-to-date laboratory equipment.”
The Eureka lab further introduced DNA testing, through an arrangement with the DNA Diagnostic Centre (DDC) in Ohio at a reduced rate for Guyanese citizens than what would normally obtain for such tests sent to the USA.
“EML currently serves over 100 walk-in clients per day, (50%-60% of the industry market), an average of over 20,000 per year, as well as sixty major companies. Senior citizens are also offered a 10% discount. The lab serves an average of 30 senior citizens per day – around 10,000 annually.”
Not satisfied with his achievements, Boyle expanded out of his field and country. A small lab and a collection centre were opened in St Vincent in 2010. In 2017, a Psycho-diagnostics and Family Centre, a first-of-its-kind facility dedicated to psycho-social ills, was added to the Eureka services.
His innovative prowess is not merely directed to his core business. In 2016 Boyle converted his Georgetown and Anna Regina laboratories and his home to solar-power. And in March 2017 he founded the Caribbean Wind and Sun Inc. of which he is the sole director, to help provide green energy installations such as solar.
“Entirely away from science and technology, Mr Boyle even diversified into an egg production and supply business, Amazonia Farms. His ‘Produced in the Berbice River’ brand has become a source of pride and employment for persons from the area.”
He is the recipient of several awards, including from PAHO/WHO for an outstanding contribution to public health and leadership; from the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce for innovation, in recognition of recorded breakthrough achievements in technology, processes, marketing campaigns and development; and from Scotia Bank (Guyana) for a laboratory with outstanding entrepreneurial achievement.
According to the awards committee, Boyle traces the roots of his desire for success from his alma mater, New Amsterdam Multilateral Secondary School where he graduated as class valedictorian.
He then proceeded to be one of the State scholars and pursued a BSc in Microbiology at the University of Cienfuegos, Cuba. He then earned his MBA at the Australian Institute of Business, thus fortifying further his entrepreneurial skills.
“Behind his success is a loving family, his children, Tony, Andrew, and Keziah, plus, of course, his loving wife, Dr. Karen Boyle, presently the Deputy Chief Medical Officer of the Ministry of Public Health; the woman who is his source of inspiration and undying motivation to achieve.”
In the Arts & Letters nomination, Prof Kei Miller, Jamaica, would likely be joining Boyle in collecting an award.
Miller is a Jamaican poet, writer, and scholar. In his career, he has produced three novels, a short story collection, four poetry collections and a book of “essays and prophecies”. He is also a prolific blogger and tweeter, maintaining a running commentary on regional and international current affairs.
He has won many awards for his writing, most significantly the Forward Prize for Poetry (2014) the premier accolade in the UK and Ireland for established and emerging poets, now in its 23rd year. He is the first writer from the Caribbean and person of colour to win the prize.
Also named for their Public & Civic Contributions, were Chevaughn and Noel Joseph, Trinidad & Tobago.
Chevaughn and Noel head a cancer support group, the Just Because Foundation (JBF), came out of their experience of losing a child to cancer. When 3½-year-old Jabez “JB” Joseph was diagnosed in 2005 with alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare form of childhood cancer, his parents, Chevaughn and Noel, worked tirelessly to help him defeat the disease. Tragically Jabez passed away two years later and in 2007 they launched the Just Because Foundation (JBF), “an incorporated, non-profit, Paediatric Cancer Support Organization” that “provides emotional, practical, and social support for families of children with cancer.”
For his contributions to the field of Science and Technology, another Trinidadian, Dr. Adesh Ramsubhag, has also been nominated.
Dr. Ramsubhag is a scientist whose career is in the areas of Microbiology and Biotechnology. He has contributed significantly to science and technology in Trinidad and Tobago and the region, specifically with respect to the development of microbiology as a distinct sub-discipline of biology, and in research aimed at addressing problems impacting humans and the environment.
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