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Chris Panetta, Photographer/Videographer

An avid and passionate self-taught photographer for over 20 years, Chris has been capturing the beauty and people of Jamaica during his trips to the Island as a regular visitor since 2006. He and his wife, Debbie, fell in love with Jamaica’s natural beauty, relaxing vibe and have been vacationing at Couples Resorts several times a year since then. Chris has also developed a deep love and appreciation for Jamaican music, and he credits this with deepening his personal connection and understanding of the history, culture, spirit, language and people of Jamaica.

In 2016, a chance meeting with another couple during a visit to Couples Sans Souci resulted in Chris and Debbie being invited to join them on a visit to a local primary school, as part of an Issa Trust Foundation tour. Bringing his camera along, Chris took his first photos of the children of Jamaica in a school setting. He was so taken by the experience, and lack of what so many take for granted, that he reached out to Diane Pollard, President & CEO of the Issa Trust Foundation, and offered the pictures to the Foundation and also volunteered his photography skills. The rest is history.

In the fall of 2016, Chris flew down to photograph and video a team of eye doctors and volunteers during our annual Vision Mission to check children’s eyes and distribute free eyeglasses to those in need. He has since participated in nearly every mission and program we have conducted, taking photographs, and recording video to help tell the story of the Foundation. He also oversees and curates our photo and video archives, helps with the creation of social media content, creates video documentaries, does graphic design, TV commercials, billboards as well as benefit concert event production and management, working with artists and other key event players.

Dr. Samantha Walker B.Sc. (Hons), MBBS, DM (Paeds), MPH – Medical Advisor

Samantha has been a registered medical practitioner for almost 20 years. She is also a registered pediatrician and neonatologist in Jamaica.

She was born in St Mary and raised in Kingston, Jamaica. After completing her high school education at the St Hugh’s High School for Girls, she completed her first undergraduate degree with First Class Honours in Biochemistry and Zoology from the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica. She subsequently completed her undergraduate medical and postgraduate training in General Pediatrics and Pediatric Infectious Disease Research. She is also a NIH/Fogarty Research Fellow.

Her true passion was realised through her work at the largest maternity hospital in the English-speaking Caribbean, the Victoria Jubilee Hospital, in Kingston, Jamaica. This led her to enroll in a Clinical Fellowship in Neonatology at the University Hospital of the West Indies. This fellowship allowed her to increase her exposure to first class neonatal care in several North American neonatal intensive care units, including Albert Einstein School of Medicine in New York, University of Iowa, and the Princess Margaret Hospital in Nassau, Bahamas. Additionally, she completed her Master’s in Public Health from the University of Liverpool in the UK, as well as a Professional Certificate in Healthcare Administration from the University of Technology, Kingston, Jamaica.

Through her many years as a pediatric consultant, she has garnered a wealth of knowledge in the demands of developing and enhancing pediatrics-focused health care services in the Jamaican setting. Through her experience in perinatal care, she has become a champion for improved perinatal care including high-risk deliveries and high dependency care for newborn infants. She is an advocate for ongoing medical training and Quality Improvement programs in pediatrics and newborn health and is currently embarking on improving infection prevention and control programs in neonatal care units in the Kingston Metropolitan area, as well as newborn respiratory care.

Her expansive career and background in public health has allowed her to become a champion for improving access to quality maternal and perinatal health care services. It is her desire that these proven strategies will be shown to be beneficial in reducing morbidity and mortality in these at-risk populations, while improving outcomes for future generations.