Professor Vijay Naraynsingh

The recipient of the prestigious 2015 CARICOM Science Award is UWI graduate, Professor Vijay Naraynsingh, who hails from the UWI Medical Faculty, St. Augustine. Former awardees include distinguished scientists such as Professor Emerit Harold Ramkissoon from Trinidad and Tobago, and Professor Gerald Lalor from Jamaica. The CARICOM Science Award overseen by CARISCIENCE and CARICOM, was first introduced in 2006 by the then Prime Minister, for Science and Technology in CARICOM the Rt Honorable Dr Keith Mitchell and recognizes leading Caribbean scientists.

He is no stranger to recognition, as he graduated from the UWI with medals and distinctions in Anatomy and Surgery in 1974. He has also received a Readership in Surgery in 1990, and both a Personal Chair (1997) and the Departmental Chair (2002) at UWI. It is noteworthy that Readership represents a mark of distinction bestowed upon very few, based solely on high quality original research work.

He has published extensively in his field, authoring over 250 articles in internationally peer-review high impact journals and co-authoring six book chapters on vascular surgery. He counts over 120 presentations internationally, regionally and locally and his work shows that he has always sought new boundaries as it has resulted in at least a dozen new revolutionary surgical techniques.

His was also one of the youngest (age 42) to receive the National Chaconia Gold Medal and the first and only Caribbean surgeon to be granted a Fellowship at the Royal College of Surgeons where he was also the first examiner to be appointed from the Caribbean.