Devon Dick | Daughter graduates with PhD in medical physics

Today, my daughter, Deon, graduates from the University of Miami, with a PhD in biomedical engineering with a major in medical physics. The road to this moment was paved with struggles and setbacks.

After coming fifth in the island in CAPE physics as a student of Immaculate Conception High School (ICHS), Deon applied twice to enter the University of the West Indies (UWI) but is yet to receive an acceptance letter. The only school to accept her was Lawrence University, Wisconsin, but after a year, she was placed on academic probation. That spurred her on to opt to go to Florida International University (FIU) to read for her first degree in physics. She made setbacks a stepping stone to greater achievements.

Deon is a well-rounded student, and immediately after her PhD defence in April, she and her sister, Dana-Marie, ran a 5k in Miami. She was always involved in extra-curricular activities. While at Duke University, North Carolina, from which she graduated with an MSc in medical physics, she was recognised with the Director's Award for serving fellow students as coordinator of three activities - the medical physics student retreat, the open house and medical physics graduation and awards ceremony - and was recognised as 'an outstanding ambassador for the program'. At Lawrence, with its strong musical tradition, she was the president and founder of Lawrence University Steel Band. These traits were nourished at ICHS, where she played lead pan, clarinet and piano. She is no nerd, but the complete person, nurturing her mind, body and soul.

Helpful

Deon is helpful. After the graduation ceremony at FIU, one of her professors said to me that he admired how Deon explained those physics concepts and theories that some of her classmates had had difficulties comprehending. These students were mainly male and Caucasian. She is always eager to share her knowledge, and for two years, while being a clinician at Kingston Public Hospital (KPH), she also taught graduate students in medical physics at UWI. She prepared for those classes with gusto. A similar thoroughness was brought to a paper she prepared for the government some five years ago critiquing the cobalt treatment equipment at KPH vs a linear accelerator equipment. Jamaica now has two linear accelerators.

I encouraged Deon to be a lawyer. She floored me when she said she wanted to be a medical physicist. 'What's that?' I asked. Then I learnt it was the application of physics concepts to medicine.

Deon, in acquiring this designation as a female of colour and a Jamaican, has broken the glass ceiling, opening the way for others to follow. Furthermore, her dissertation could be significant because she used artificial intelligence to more accurately determine the 3D location of liver tumours using the 2D lung diaphragm outline. This could help improve treatment plans for cancer.

Deon brought tears to my eyes just before she did her dissertation defence when she posted that she wished I was there to witness her viva. I should have been there. I should have known better because when on the day of my PhD defence at University of Warwick, England, I felt low, not because I was told that I needed a year's extension to prove that National Hero Paul Bogle did not have murderous intentions in the 1865 protest, but because I had no family member to listen to my viva and to greet me afterwards. God's willing, I will be at her graduation today. Deon is a lesson in overcoming setbacks and enduring struggles.

Fathers need to understand that these achievements are important milestones and moments in the life of a child.