PROFESSOR Courtenay Bartholomew has passed away. He was 89.
Known for his research in HIV and AIDS, he was the first to diagnose a case of AIDS in the English-speaking Caribbean.
His son Barry paid tribute on Facebook:
To say his life was a most astonishing and complete journey is quite an understatement!
Rip Daddy
Bartholomew grew up in Port-of-Spain and attended Newton Boys’ RC School and then St Mary’s College.
He graduated from the University College of Dublin in internal medicine in1960 and attained a specialty degree in gastroenterology from the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The first West Indian to do so, according to Wikipedia.
In 1967 he became the first lecturer in Medicine at the St Augustine Campus of the University of the West Indies.
He is a member of the World AIDS Foundation Scientific Advisory Committee and an advocate for public education on AIDS.
Paying tribute was former education minister and Gynaecologic Oncologic Surgeon Dr Tim Gopeesingh.
He said, “I first met Professor Bartholomew at the POS General Hospital in 1973, as a young student, trainee, and intern in my final year of Medical School (UWI), where he was a lecturer in Internal Medicine.
“He was the perfect example of what a doctor should be— highly skilled, brilliant, very knowledgeable, thorough, and in-depth with every medical case.
“But what stood out, even more, was his tremendous humanity. In his hospital Ward Rounds, his bedside comportment was especially exemplary, for he never failed to go beyond the call to analyse the vaguest medical issues of patients, treating everyone under his care with unmatched compassion and respect.
“As a teacher, he was no-nonsense, highly disciplined, and deeply invested in his students, always guiding us to do post-Graduate studies abroad to gain invaluable experience.”
