Shavar Maloney
Monday, May 10, 2021
With the global gaming industry valued at USD 159 billion in 2020 and expected to grow in 2021, The University of the West Indies, Five Islands Campus will explore the business of e-Sports in the next edition of its Public Advocacy Series. The May virtual event, which takes place on Monday May 17, will feature two international industry leaders, Dr. Melita Moore and Mr. Eric Elder.
Dr. Melita Moore is a quadruple board certified physician and an international leader on health and wellness for gamers in the field of eSports Medicine. She is the CEO/Founder of Levels Unlocked Enterprises, a brand, marketing and communications firm focused on esports, sports and health.
Mr. Eric T. Elder is creative media consultant and an industry leader in the emerging field of Extended Reality (XR). He founded OW! (Online Worlds) Entertainment in 1997, to create virtual worlds for movie & TV properties and has worked on series such as “King of the Hill” and ‘The Simpsons”.
The creative media industries have shown exponential growth over the last decade and are now valued as a billion dollar-industry. These industries which include areas such as e-Sports, Animation and Extended Reality (XR) are attractive to young people not only for the potential revenues it could generate, but also for providing an avenue for entrepreneurship. With a young population in the Caribbean, education institutions like The UWI are currently engaged in equipping students with the skills to explore opportunities in the industry. The feature speakers will share insights and proven strategies on how best to prepare and move into the different areas.
The May 17 virtual event themed, 159 Billion Reasons Why the Caribbean Should Be Engaged in eSports begins at 6:30 p.m. (Eastern Caribbean time). Pro Vice-Chancellor and Campus Principal of The UWI Five Islands Campus, Professor Densil Williams will deliver opening remarks. Following their presentations, participants will be able to pose questions directly to Dr. Moore and Mr. Elder during the discussion segment. Persons can register online at the Campus’ website: https://fiveislands.uwi.edu/publicadvocacyseries/.
More about Dr. Melita Moore
Dr. Melita N. Moore is a quadruple board certified physician in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Sports Medicine, Brain Injury Medicine and Lifestyle Medicine. She served as a team physician in the NBA 2K League, Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) G League. She is the CEO/Founder of Levels Unlocked Enterprises, a brand, marketing and communications firm focused on esports, sports and health and the Executive Director of Health-e-Gamer Foundation, a 501c3 organization with an emphasis on esports and STEM through a wellness lens.
Having been one of a few team physicians of a professional esports team in the United States, she is uniquely aware of the mental and physical stress and burnout issues in the gaming community and is an international leader on health and wellness for gamers in the field of Esports Medicine. In addition, she is a Member of the Board and Chair of the Health and Wellness Commission for the Global Esports Federation. Her goal is to educate parents, gamers and stakeholders on the importance of healthy lifestyles in a digital world.
Previously, Dr. Moore was the head team physician for the University of California, Davis, where she established national policies and protocols for concussion, eating disorders and mental health in student athletes. Her expertise in sports concussion has led to policy change, implementation of improved concussion protocols and numerous presentations at national and international professional conferences. She is an internationally renowned speaker and serves as teaching faculty and physician expert for educational courses.
More about Mr. Eric T. Elder
Mr. Elder started his career as a 2D animator at the American cable channel, MTV on the series Beavis & Butt-Head and then moved to LA to work on King of the Hill & The Simpsons. In addition to his career as a professional animator, he spent 15 years working with the Art Institutes as an Instructor, then as an Academic Director. He is known for having created the most successful Video Game production training programs in the system.
He founded OW! (Online Worlds) Entertainment in 1997 to create virtual worlds for movie & TV properties.
For the past few years, he has been focused on the emerging XR industry managing productions, designing pipeline models, game/experience design, strategic planning, and developing studio pitches for AR & VR based on major Hollywood IP.
He currently spends most of his time as a Creative Media Consultant designing training programs and production pipelines for animation, video game & XR production. He is also actively a speaker at various industry-related events.
