Born in Barbados, West Indies, on 7 October 1932, Sir George Allenmore O’Garren Alleyne is one of the brightest medical minds ever produced by the Caribbean archipelago. After a brilliant career at Harrison College, a Barbados Scholarship took him to the University of the West Indies (UWI), from which he graduated as the gold medallist in medicine in 1957. During the early 1960s he completed a Doctorate in Medicine in the Tropical Metabolism Research Unit at the UWI, where he was appointed Professor of Medicine in 1972, rising to the chairmanship of his department by 1976. In 1977 Dr Alleyne was awarded the prestigious Sir Arthur Sims Commonwealth Travelling Professorship which involved lecturing in medical schools throughout Canada and the British Isles. Four years later, he was appointed Chief of the Research Unit at the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) and in 1983 became PAHO’s Area Director of Health Programs Development. In 1990, Dr Alleyne was selected as the Assistant Director of PAHO and was unanimously elected Director of the whole organization in 1994, a position he held until his retirement in 2003. He was the first Caribbean person to hold this post. For his outstanding services to medicine and public health, Sir George Alleyne was knighted in 1990 and in 2001 he was awarded the Order of the Caribbean Community; the highest honour that can be conferred on a Caribbean national. He is currently Chancellor of the University of the West Indies and is the first graduate of the UWI to hold this title. His major concerns, as expressed in his numerous reports, speeches and publications, are equity in health care, health and development, and health care problems throughout the Caribbean. Dr Alleyne was elected Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (London, England) and an Honorary Fellow of the American College of Physicians. He has also been offered honorary doctorates from various universities. Although officially retired, he continues (2006) to be the leader of an important Commission, established recently by the CARICOM governments to examine health issues confronting the region, including HIV / AIDS and their impact on national economies.
ALLEYNE, George
