As incoming Dean and proud graduate of the University of the West Indies, I bid you a warm welcome to the Faculty of Medical Sciences, Cave Hill Campus and look forward to working with you during your stay with us.
The UWI was founded more than 60 years ago, at the Mona Campus in Jamaica, on the site of an old sugar estate, used as the Gibraltar Camp for refugees in the Second World War. In 1948, a mere 33 students entered the university’s first ever class. They were selected from some 600 applicants across the Caribbean and many have distinguished themselves and the University, as specialists, consultants, lecturers, family practitioners, public health leaders and professors in our alma mater.
In 1967-68 the teaching programme was expanded to include satellite clinical training sites at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Barbados and the Port of Spain Hospital in Trinidad.
It is now over 40 years since teaching began at Cave Hill and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. In looking back we take pride in the splendid achievements of our alumni, and the progress made in health care, teaching and research. Our own Cave Hill alumni are leading in these successes, as evidenced by outstanding research work and a growing number of specialty graduate programmes.
The UWI now teaches medicine at four sites - Mona, St. Augustine, Nassau and Cave Hill - where the School of Clinical Medicine and Research recently became a full Faculty of Medical Sciences with entry of the first year class in September 2008.
The Cave Hill campus also teaches nine postgraduate programmes – including Accident and Emergency Medicine and Surgery. Recently, emphasis has been put on Primary Care and Public Health training in response to the expressed needs of the Governments, and the need for development in the region.
The Faculty is committed to providing high quality facilities at Cave Hill and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital along with strong support services. Every student is assigned a staff advisor and we are proud of our excellent counseling services as we support you in the transition to a demanding but fulfilling career in medicine.
Professor Joseph M. Branday
Dean
