Sifu, Coach or Mr. Iman

I am Iman Ato Gibbons. My given name means intelligent leader. I am the last Son of Wendell and Ula Gibbons of Bailey’s Bay, Hamilton Parish. Due to diligent research by my family on the Gibbons and Outerbridge side I am able to trace my ancestors back to this soil and seas some 6 generations. On my paternal side I am a descendant of Jane Bernice Walbourne, considered to be a full blooded Cherokee. On my maternal side, through my own personal extensive research, I have discovered that I am a descendant of Henry Hilgrove Hollis and Mary Mathie (A relationship not mentioned in Hollis family history and mysteriously left out of the recently published book “Opened Letters, Opened Lives” by John Cox). I have been married twice and have 3 children aged 24, 16 and 13 from those marriages.

I went to Francis Patton Primary School under Principal Dean Furbert. For High school I attended The Berkeley Institute from 1986 til 1992 and studied under the principleship of Clifford Maxwell then Patricia Holder where I also had instruction by educational stalwarts Marva Allen, Rhonda Woods, Sandra Smith, Glen Fubler and David Thomas to name a few. I achieved graduation requirements in 4 years. 5th year was a formality. For university I travelled to the US and started undergraduate studies at Brandeis University (2 years) then finished my bachelors of science with the distinctions of achieving Summa Cum Laude and being invited to Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society while at Howard University in Washington DC. During my time at Howard I was also selected on 2 separate occasions to represent the Biology Department and study at the FAES within the NIH (Foundation for the Advanced Education in the Sciences at National Institute of Health). In these courses we were trained in advanced laboratory techniques in Cell signalling and DNA extraction. My mentors and advisors at Howard were Dr Gerldine Twitty, Dr Aboko-Cole and Dr. Vincent Hollis (my elder cousin).

After graduating from Howard University I was selected by Dr. Roosevelt Brown aka Pauulu Kamarakafego to attend Medical School in Cuba. Due to a change in the program, I would actually study Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation at the Holguin School of Medicine. I left Cuba fluent in Spanish and qualified as a Physiotherapist with a focus in Child Development and Neurological Disorders. At the request and under the authority of several local parents, who were either disillusioned by the current education system or seeking a place for their Neurodivergent children, I founded and continue to operate a Child Development Research Center and Homeschool Cooperative known as Phi or specifically Pauulu Heritage Institute in honor of my mentor and National Hero Pauulu Kamarakafego.