Prof. Vijay Naraynsingh is professor emeritus of surgery, University of the West Indies (UWI), Kingston, Jamaica. He has played a major role in organizing surgery and establishing a program of surgical education in the West Indies and throughout the Caribbean. He graduated from UWI Medical School in 1974 and completed his general surgery training in the U.K., followed by a fellowship in vascular surgery in the U.S. He earned his Fellowship in the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1978 and became a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons in 1987. He also is a Fellow of the International College of Angiology, the International College of Surgeons, the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and the Caribbean College of Surgeons.
Professor Naraynsingh has spent his entire surgical career in the West Indies providing outstanding clinical service, education, and maintaining an active research interest. He rose through the ranks of UWI’s department of surgery to become professor and ultimately chair and deputy dean of the faculty of medicine (clinical).
Despite limited resources, Professor Naraynsingh was remarkably innovative, bringing high-quality, modern surgical care in general and vascular surgery to his region. He established vascular surgery as a specialized service in Port of Spain and Trinidad and introduced a number of complex surgical procedures to the area. He has published many manuscripts related to vascular and general surgery, most of which are case reports or studies of particular diseases or management strategies important for his region. He has received numerous awards for his educational excellence from his region, as well as from India, and organized and became the first president of the Society of Surgeons of Trinidad and Tobago. He has been a leading figure and founding member of the Caribbean College of Surgeons, of which he was president in 2007.
He also has been recognized for his public service, particularly for providing care to disadvantaged children, and his mentoring efforts are an inspiration to youth in the region. His contributions have been widely recognized in his region, most notably with the Chaconia Gold Medal, the second-highest civilian award given by his government. At the most recent meeting of the Caribbean College of Surgeons, I had the opportunity to meet Dr. Naraynsingh and discuss his contributions with him and his colleagues, as well as the leading surgeons from Guyana, Bahamas, Curacao, and Barbados, and each have been extremely effusive in their comments about his enormous contributions to surgery and society in the Caribbean.
