ABOUT UWI, SCMR

The program to teach undergraduate medical students in the final two years of their undergraduate medical school five-year degree program in The Bahamas was established in 1997; at that time it represented the first major expansion of the Faculty of Medicine UWI since the Eric Williams Complex in 1979. As in their two prior clinical teaching programs in Barbados and Trinidad, The Bahamian initiative was established in a Government owned public health facility, the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH). This 450 bed facility is The Bahamas Government's flagship institution delivering the full spectrum of health care services: primary, secondary and tertiary.

The motive for establishing a clinical training program in the Bahamas was prefaced in the strategic plan of the PMH's Office of CME, to transform PMH from a service based facility to an academic one. The rationale: medical and surgical care delivered in an academic institution provides a higher quality of care and better patient outcomes than a non-teaching one. With the increasing numbers of returning Bahamian physicians-specialty trained, certified and practicing at PMH, it augers well for patient care to inculcate the university's mission of patient care, teaching and research.

The Bahamian medical initiative was launched as a clinical training program under the auspices of the St. Augustine campus, Trinidad. In 2007, on its 10th anniversary, the program was advanced to The School of Clinical Medicine and Research, The Bahamas (SCMR).

SCMR accepts students who transfer voluntarily to The Bahamas to complete their final 4th and 5th years. The syllabi followed by the 4th and 5th year students are the same employed by the Mona, Barbados and Trinidad campus medical faculties; the students are assigned the rotations and syllabi in accordance with their respective campus of origin.

The School's academic program and its operation are managed by the Director. Dr. Robin Roberts assumed the Directorship of SCMR in November 2009. Dr. Roberts is a Consultant Urologist at the Princess Margaret Hospital and one of the founding members of the UWI Clinical Training program in The Bahamas in 1997.