Dr. the Honourable Andrew Wheatley is the Minister without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister responsible for Science, Technology and Special Projects. He was awarded his Bachelors’ degree (B.Sc.) in biochemistry and chemistry from The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona and he earned his Ph.D. in Basic Medical Science from The UWI, Mona and Imperial College, University of London. He also did some post-graduate studies at Praire View A&M University, Texas but was awarded a British Commonwealth Scholarship to complete his Ph.D. at the University of London.
His academic excellence showed from primary school when he was the only Grade 5 student to pass the Common Entrance Examinations. He is a proud graduate of St. Jago High School where he was a member of the winning Schools’ Challenge team and represented the institution at chess. His early career was in academia where from his post-graduate student days he assisted researchers and later became a lecturer and moved up the ranks to Senior Lecturer in 2014. His research has included tissue culture of a variety of agricultural crops including yam, investigating the pharmaceutical properties of a variety of indigenous plant materials, diabetes management and genetic engineering.
He became involved in politics from around 2003, when he was elected as a parish councillor in the St. Catherine Southern Constituency, during which time he also served as Deputy Mayor of Spanish Town. He was elected as a Member of Parliament for South Central, St. Catherine in 2012 and continues to maintain that position. He has also served as Opposition Spokesman on Science, ICT, Digital Society Development and the Environment and is a former Minister of Science, Energy and Technology.