Brenda S. Kirkby, Ph.D. Associate Dean of Basic Sciences Ph.D., M.S., Neuropsychology, University of Victoria, Canada B.S., Psychology (cum Laude), University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA

After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Massachusetts with a B.S. degree in psychology, Dr. Kirkby earned her Masters and Doctoral degrees in neuropsychology from the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada. As a supplement to her doctoral training, she completed a 3-year research fellowship in neuroimaging in the Positron Emission Tomography Unit of the Clinical Brain Disorders Branch at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Her research focused on neurofunctional changes following recovery from severe closed head injury and in schizophrenia. She completed her clinical internship at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center, specializing in the assessment of patients with adult and child neuropsychological conditions and in the evaluation of medical psychology patients such as organ transplant candidates, sleep disordered patients, and in-patient rehabilitation patients.

After eight years of high profile postgraduate clinical and research training, Dr. Kirkby diverted her academic path to education and became a faculty member at a Caribbean medical school. Since 1997, she has developed, taught, and maintained highly regarded medicine-based behavioral sciences courses for medical students. Her courses of Medical Psychology and Medical & Legal Ethics are highly relevant to day-to-day medical practice and greatly contribute to the curriculum at the University of Sint Eustatius School of Medicine.

Along side her excellence in teaching, her status as a favorite professor amongst students and her devotion to high academic standards, she climbed the administrative ladder to her present position as Associate Dean of Basic Sciences.

R. Duncan Kirkby, Ph.D. Associate Dean of Student Affairs University of Saskatchewan, Canada, B.A. & M.A. University of Victoria, Canada, Ph.D.

After graduating with a B.A. and an M.A. in Psychology from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, Dr. Kirkby obtained his Ph.D. in Psychology (Neurosciences track) from the University of Victoria, Canada. Dr. Kirkby was the recipient of national scholarships during his post-graduate training. In 1993, Dr. Kirkby won an award to pursue research into synaptic plasticity in the Department of Pharmacology at The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Maryland.

In 1994, Dr. Kirkby continued his research in the Neuronal Excitability Section of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health, Maryland, focusing on neuronal mechanisms related to the promotion and suppression of seizures. During this period, he served as a preceptor to medical students on scholarship from American medical schools.

In 1997, Dr. Kirkby shifted his attention from the laboratory to the classroom, developing a clinically-oriented approach to the teaching of neuroscience to international medical students. During his tenure at the University of Sint Eustatius School of Medicine since 1999, he has further extended his educational efforts into the realm of hyperbaric medicine, having established an array of programs to accommodate students with varied interests. These efforts contributed to the recent formation of an internationally governed non-profit foundation, the mission of which is the improvement of health and personal safety on local and international levels through the interrelated processes of education, the promotion of healthcare, and research in the realm of undersea and hyperbaric medicine and its chief clinical instrument, hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Overlapping with these developments, in 2002, Dr. Kirkby was appointed as Associate Dean of Student Affairs at the University of Sint Eustatius.

Marc Poulin, M.S., B.S. Assistant Dean of Clinical Services Vice President of Academic Development M.S. (Microbiology), B.S. (Biology), University of Maine, Orono, Maine

Following graduation with a B.S. and M.S. from the University of Maine, Marc was recruited and hired by Parke-Davis, an international pharmaceutical company, to represent their cardiovascular products to community physicians and hospitals. He earned many awards and recognitions within the company through years of success and knowledge of physician practices.

With significant downsizing of pharmaceutical companies in the late 90’s, Marc joined an international medical school and gained valuable experience as an Assistant Dean. As the vision and ideas of Sint Eustatius were conceived, Marc joined the founders to develop a clinical department that would afford quality clinical teaching, individualized guidance, and management of students. Working for the University of Sint Eustatius, in collaboration with a core group of professional administrators and professors, has allowed the program to develop an excellent reputation based on simple ideas to provide excellence in teaching and personal case management.

As a senior member of the administrative team, Marc brings over a decade of industry knowledge and perspective to the educational process and continues to enjoy building and managing a reputable clinical program as Assistant Dean of Clinical Services and VP of Academic Development.