Gene Morse, SUNY Distinguished Professor, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, has been appointed executive director of the State University of New York-University of the West Indies Center for Leadership and Sustainable Development.

The Center for Leadership and Sustainable Development (CLSD) was created in 2016 under an agreement that established a partnership between SUNY and UWI.

It conducts research relevant to democratic participation, leadership and governance, with a focus on solutions to specific problems constraining the achievement of the United Nations’ sustainable development goals.

Since its inception, Morse has contributed to the growth of the center in his role as director of UB’s Center for Integrated Global Biomedical Sciences, as well as co-chair — along with John Lindo, UWI Mona Campus — of the SUNY-UWI Health Research Consortium, which fosters faculty and health science research in the Caribbean.

The consortium is also supported by the SUNY Global Health Institute, a multi-health science campus institute directed by Morse and Jack DeHovitz, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University.

These efforts have brought together SUNY and UWI faculty for successful National Institutes of Health grant applications.

“Our efforts through the SUNY-UWI CLSD,” Morse says, “have rapidly expanded to include multiple areas of biomedical research and global collaborations with faculty and businesses engaged in climate change, alternative energy, agricultural innovation and traditional medicine that impact health research, along with bridging academic-business research programs based on sustainable development models. These initiatives will integrate management and business students into these research programs, forming a foundation for future SUNY-UWI CLSD graduate degrees.”

Adds Sir Hilary Beckles, UWI vice chancellor: “We anticipate that the new CLSD leadership will accelerate training for the next generation of academicians, entrepreneurs and public officials. This will help global efforts to achieve the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.”