Appointment of the New Dean for the Faculty of Medical Sciences

Professor Minerva Thame handing over to the new Dean, Professor Joseph Plummer

The Faculty of Medical Sciences officially bids farewell to Professor Thame, the first female Dean of the faculty. She has passed the batton to Professor Plummer  who has taken appointment on August 1, 2025. He joined the academic staff of The UWI Mona Campus in 2005 and was promoted to senior lecturer in 2011. He was appointed Professor of General and Colorectal Surgery in 2017. During the period 2017 - 2023, he served as Head of the Department of Surgery, Radiology, Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, where he introduced several initiatives to the benefit of the teaching academy. He is recognised regionally and internationally for expertise in the surgical management of diseases of the colon and rectum, his main area of research. Professor Plummer completed postgraduate training in surgery at The University of the West Indies, and a fellowship in colorectal surgery at the University of Toronto. He also benefited from stints at other institutions in North America after he was awarded an International Fellowship from the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons in 2011, and in 2016 was named the American College of Surgeons International Guest Scholar. He regards himself as an all-inclusive, collaborative, goal-oriented leader, and envisions a motivated medical science faculty and student population. Working with the Faculty the aim is to build better partnerships with all external stakeholders, capitalising on the solid foundations of the Faculty and in so doing re-position The UWI as the Harvard of the Caribbean in all things Healthcare.