By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov. 21, 2022 — One of the accomplishments in my life that I am immensely proud of is my introduction of the Scripps National Spelling Bee to The Bahamas in 1998 when I was Editor of The Nassau Guardian.
I had previously lived in Washington, D.C., for 21 years before returning to The Bahamas “permanently” in 1996, and for more than 10 years when I lived in D.C., I was News Editor of The Washington Informer, an award-winning African American-owned newspaper that took over the sponsorship of the D.C. City-Wide Spelling Bee in 1982.
I attended my first Scripps Bee in 1983 and was so impressed by its potential to have a tremendous impact on the educational system of The Bahamas that I promised myself back then that whenever I returned to The Bahamas, I would make a concerted effort to convince those responsible for the administration of education in the country to support my idea to annually select a spelling champion to participate in the Scripps Bee.
Back then, newspapers were the primary sponsors of competitions through which Scripps National Spelling Bee contestants were determined, and when I became Editor of the Nassau Guardian in 1997, I discussed my idea with Kenneth “Six” Francis, the then Publisher and General Manager of The Guardian, and he threw his full support behind my initiative.
Fortunately, at the time Dion Foulkes was Minister of State for Education. As everyone in The Bahamas should know by now, whatever skills I possess in my chosen profession of journalism were nurtured and developed by Dion’s father, Sir Arthur Foulkes, who was News Editor at The Tribune when I joined that newspaper’s editorial staff as a trainee reporter in May of 1960. I later joined Sir Arthur at The Bahamian Times in 1965 after it was established several years earlier by the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) to promote its political message among the Bahamian electorate. So, I have known Dion since he was a little boy who distributed copies of Bahamian Times and consider him to be a “brother.”
My “brother” Dion did not have to do much to convince the then Minister of Education Ivy Dumont, who later became Governor General of The Bahamas, to fully support the first Bahamas National Spelling Bee (BNSB), given her life-long commitment to the educational development of young Bahamians. A good friend of mine, Agatha Dean Delancy, and Tonya Adderley, who were both then employed by IBM Bahamas, helped to convince IBM’s then General Manager Felix Stubbs to become a principal sponsor along with The Guardian of the first Bahamas National Spelling Bee in 1998.
The winner of the first BNSB was Dominique Higgins, a 12-year-old Jordan Prince William High School student, who performed exceptionally well in the Scripps competition in Washington, D.C., but did not advance to the finals. Incidentally, 1998 was the year that 12-year-old Jody-Anne Maxwell, Jamaica’s spelling champion, made history as the first non-American to win Scripps National Spelling Bee.
There is no disputing the fact that preparing for the BNSB opened vistas to smorgasbord of educational development programs that became a solid foundation for participants as they later decided what careers they would pursue as adults.
I was very well aware of the fact that Dominique Higgins, winner of the first BNSB, was an outstanding student during his pursuit of higher education, so I was not surprised when I received an email from his mother, Ivy Higgins, whom I have not been in touch with for many years, that stated: “Hi Mr. Brown. Thought you would like to know where your first Bahamian National Spelling Bee Champion is at.”
My heart almost exploded with pride as I read a November 18, 2022, release by the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of North Carolina (UNC) in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Here’s an excerpt from that release: “Neurosurgical oncologist Dr. Dominique Higgins, MD, PhD, joined the UNC Neurosurgery team this fall as Assistant Professor in UNC Health’s Department of Neurosurgery. His clinical specialties and research interests focus on neurosurgical oncology and brain tumor treatment.
“Dr. Higgins knew he wanted to pursue a career in neurosurgery when he was in high school. Later during his undergraduate and graduate education at Stanford University studying Biological Sciences, Dr. Higgins was fascinated by the emergence of stem cell biology and its role in cancer. While completing his honors program in neuroscience at Stanford, he began research in one of the oncology labs identifying the cancer stem cells in brain tumors. During his time in the lab, Dr. Higgins developed a deeper understanding of brain tumor biology and how the scientific path created a broader picture of how to successfully treat brain tumors.”
He is quoted as saying: “There is something very unique about how collaborative the environment is here at UNC, and how collegial everyone is while still functioning at a very high level. I saw opportunities for implementing some of the ideas that I am passionate about.”
The release continues: “Dr. Higgins went on to complete a dual MD/PhD program at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, appeasing both his interests in medicine and research. While at Mayo, Dr. Higgins spent more time in the tumor-focused labs, and eventually completed his PhD thesis studying glioblastoma stem cells. During his time at Mayo, Dr. Higgins felt he had found his passion where both his research and clinical interests came together, and he felt he could a mark on the progress that was being made. He went on to complete his residency training in neurosurgery at Columbia University’s Neurological Institute of New York. He then successfully pursued a brain tumor fellowship at the University of Miami, with an emphasis on minimally invasive open and endoscopic surgical treatments for brain tumors.
“For someone like Dr. Higgins, who is interested in both brain tumor treatment and research, UNC Medical Center is the perfect location. Dr. Higgins’ research is focused on glioblastoma metabolism and studying a new form of cell death through a process called ferroptosis. Through the course of his research, Dr. Higgins has seen promising results when testing a special dietary therapy that increases ferroptosis, finding that the treatment significantly improved survival in mice with malignant brain tumors. Dr. Higgins hopes to bring that clinical trial to UNC Medical Center by next year.
“Another area of research that interests Dr. Higgins is local drug delivery. It can be difficult to treat tumors in the brain because the brain works hard to keep chemicals and toxins out. Dr. Higgins‘ research has looked into ways to safely increase the concentration of the drug to the brain tumor site while simultaneously limiting toxicity to other organs in the body.
Dr. Higgins was also excited to join the UNC Neurosurgery faculty under the direction of world-renowned pituitary tumor surgeon, Dr. Nelson Oyesiku who serves as the department’s chair.
He is quoted as saying: “I was inspired by Dr. Oyesiku and his strong reputation,” said Dr. Higgins. “Everyone always speaks so highly of him and I thought he was the right person to lead a department that I would want to be a part of.”
“With such a high-powered cancer center combined with renowned neurosurgery faculty, Dr. Higgins felt that joining UNC Health was an easy decision,” the release noted.
He is quoted as saying: “I’ve told applicants during residency interviews that UNC is the best kept secret because you see so much clinical volume given that UNC Chapel Hill is the center of a large health network with high quality physicians, and it also hosts one of the top comprehensive cancer centers in the country.”
Here’s a link to the complete release by the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of North Carolina (UNC): https://www.med.unc.edu/neurosurgery/neurosurgical-oncologist-dr-dominique-higgins-brings-his-surgical-expertise-brain-tumor-research-to-unc-neurosurgery/
