Jamaican-born American Dr Susan M Collins, who, in July this year will become the first black woman to head a federal reserve bank in the US, was inspired to become an economist by observing social and financial hardships in the land of her birth.

Collins’ appointment as president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Massachusetts – one of 12 branches in the US — was announced earlier this month, drawing high praise for her qualification and leadership abilities.

“This is a brilliant appointment,” Lisa Lynch, a Brandeis University professor and former chair of the Boston Fed, was quoted as saying by ABC News. “She is a tested leader with the expertise and demeanour to be a strong voice at the Federal Reserve in Washington and the New England business community.”

Dr Christina Paxson, president of Brown University and chair of the Boston Fed board who led the search committee, said: “After an intensive search, we are thrilled to appoint this exceptionally well-qualified person to be the bank’s president and a key leader in the Federal Reserve System.”

Collins, 63, graduated summa cum laude from Harvard University in 1980 and earned her PhD in economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1984. She then returned to Harvard to teach.

She will also be a voting member of the central bank’s powerful Federal Open Market Committee, whose mandate is to promote full employment and stable consumer prices.

Collins grew up in Manhattan, New York, after her social anthropologist father who worked at the United Nations and university librarian mother (now deceased) migrated from Kingston. She is married with two children.