Northern Caribbean University Names Dental Surgeon as President

By Nigel Coke, Inter-American Division

Lincoln Edwards, a pharmacologist and dental surgeon, has been elected president of the Seventh-day Adventist-owned Northern Caribbean University in Mandeville, Jamaica.

Edwards, a native of Jamaica and graduate of the University of the West Indies and Loma Linda University, has served as an assistant professor in the Schools of Medicine and Dentistry at Loma Linda University, and is currently an associate professor at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center’s School of Dentistry in the U.S. city of Houston.

He will replace Trevor Gardner, who has served as president since 2012 and is retiring in late August.

“I am humbled and honored to be chosen,” Edwards said. “I am excited to return to Jamaica and to serve in this capacity at NCU, which stands on the threshold of an exciting new era.”

Edwards praised Northern Caribbean University for having “a bold vision to be the premiere institution from which students receive Christ-centered instructions and graduate to make evidence-based decision and impact the world in positive ways of their choosing.”

He pledged to do his best to help to find solutions to societal problems through the institution.

Edwards left Jamaica in 1993 as a lecturer in chemistry and mathematics at Northern Caribbean University to pursue a doctoral degree in pharmacology at Loma Linda University. He holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, and also a doctor of dental surgery (DDS) degree. He is an experienced lay preacher and has served in various capacities within the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

He is a noted researcher in the area of diabetes and hypertension and has obtained two grants from the National Institutes of Health in Jamaica. He currently serves on three American Dental Association test construction committees and is secretary of the American Dental Education Association section on oral diagnosis.

Northern Caribbean University’s board of governors elected Edward during a meeting at the church’s headquarters in Mandeville on June 12.

“I am pleased with the fact that after several months of searching for a potential candidate to serve as the next president of NCU, the board of governors finally endorsed the candidacy of Dr. Edwards,” said Everett Brown, chairman of the board of governors and president of the Adventist Church in Jamaica.

“He comes to us with a wealth of knowledge and a vast experience of serving in the Seventh-day Adventist system,” Brown said. “He is mission-driven, goal oriented, and has a keen interest in the development of people. We anticipate a successful tenor for him when he officially takes up office.”

Edwards has taken U.S.-based dental students on mission trips to Jamaica and helped hundreds of people to access free dental services in Kingston, St. Catherine, Clarendon and Manchester over the past five years.

Edwards is married to Sandra Taylor, and they have three children.