Paula Tennant

Paula Tennant earned first-class honours in botany at the University of the West Indies before travelling to Cornell University in the United States for doctoral research, where she joined a research group working to combat Papaya Ringspot Virus (PRSV), a disease that was devastating papaya crops across tropical regions worldwide, including Hawaii and the Caribbean.

Working with collaborators including Dennis Gonsalves, Tennant helped develop a genetically modified strain of papaya, using the coat-protein gene from a mild strain of the virus to confer resistance in the plant. Her doctoral research, completed in 1996, contributed directly to the creation of what became known as the Jamaica Solo Sunrise papaya — a disease-resistant, transgenic strain of the local variety, and the Caribbean's first bio-engineered agricultural product.

Tennant went on to join the Department of Life Sciences at the University of the West Indies, Mona campus, in 2001, where she expanded her research beyond papaya to characterise viruses affecting citrus, cucurbit crops, and root vegetables across Jamaica, including work on Citrus Tristeza Virus and citrus viroid diversity.

Her work has been recognised with the University of the West Indies' Principal's Research Day award for Best Researcher in the category of Plant Disease Management, and she continues to conduct research on crop virology aimed at protecting Caribbean agriculture.