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About SGU
History
"The founding and development of St. George’s University have been the result of collective sacrifice and solidarity involving remarkable individuals and the Grenadian people as a whole. What stands here today is a magnificent educational monument to the cooperative solidarity of civilized peoples from different lands."
Dr. The Honourable Ralph E. Gonsalves
Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines
The Beginning
Long ago, establishing a world-renowned medical education institution in Grenada seemed like an impossible dream. Yet, on July 23, 1976, Charles Modica, Louis Modica, Edward McGowan, and Patrick F. Adams witnessed the birth of that very dream through an act of Grenada’s Parliament establishing St. George’s University School of Medicine. With a handful of students and faculty, classes at St. George’s School of Medicine began on January 17, 1977. The dream became reality.
Now, with over 6,400 graduates practicing medicine across the world and a campus that includes professors and students from over 85 different countries, St. George’s University has earned a worldwide reputation as a leading international center for medical education and a beacon of academic excellence. For 30 years now, the University’s dedication to developing outstanding doctors has improved health standards and healthcare delivery systems throughout the world. St. George’s reputation for academic excellence and innovative approach to medical training continues to attract students from across the world and distinguished faculty from the most prestigious medical institutions.
Roots of Academic Excellence
Among the faculty first recruited to the University was C.V. Rao, PhD, who joined as part of the anatomy teaching staff and has been with St. George’s ever since, and David Brown, PhD, MD, who was the first person to accept a faculty position with the new institution. In addition to his academic duties, Dr. Rao serves as Dean of Students and heads up wide-ranging support services. Dr. Brown is now Chair of Behavioral Sciences.
Other firsts for the University include Paul Cutler, MD, the first Dean of the University, Stephen M. Ayres, MD, the first Dean of the School of Medicine, and Stephen Weitzman, MD, the first Dean of Clinical Studies.
Geoffrey Bourne, MD, migrated from Yerkes Primate Center, Emory University, to serve as St. George’s first Vice Chancellor. Morris Alpert, MD, former professor of anatomy and clinical associate professor of surgery at Albany Medical School, joined St. George’s to build the first part of students’ clinical training in St. Vincent.
Almost all of the founding faculty members had been educated either in the United States or Europe, and their broad range of experience led to the creation of an innovative curriculum that would combine the best of the American and British medical traditions. Keith Taylor, FCRP, DM, retired professor of medicine at Stanford University, succeeded Dr. Bourne as Vice Chancellor. In the process, the Oxford-trained Vice Chancellor built a strong faculty, recruited from numerous countries, shaped graduate and undergraduate programs aimed at attracting students from developing nations, worked closely with the government of Grenada to ensure mutual cooperation, and oversaw the expansion of the True Blue campus. Dr. Taylor’s tenure was followed by the appointment of Peter G. Bourne, MA, MD, as Vice Chancellor of the University on July 1, 1998, following in his father’s footsteps. Dr. Bourne continued the legacy of his predecessor, with the campus expansion continuing further growth of the undergraduate and research programs.
Largely because of its commitment to basic teaching and faculty development, the University soon attracted distinguished visiting professors from some of the world’s most prestigious institutions, including Harvard, McGill University, Cornell, Columbia, Rockefeller Institute, London School of Tropical Health and many more. Many of these scholars eventually joined the University on a permanent basis and worked, with the administration, to create new programs beyond medicine, such as joint degrees in public health and science. These new advances were instrumental to the University's growth and helped set new standards for medical education in the region. Naturally, St. George’s growing reputation attracted a new breed of international medical student. Just as the Founders anticipated in their vision of the School, the students were committed to the life-long study and practice of medicine as well as the transformational power of medicine in improving existing healthcare delivery systems around the world.
Early Challenges
For the Founders and the first students, the road towards success was not guaranteed. Indeed, they encountered some early obstacles and challenges.
The University endured in the face of Grenada’s infamous political event. As student enrollment in Grenada reached 630, a Marxist coup forcibly overturned the Gairy government in 1979. The new administration, commonly known as the “Revo,” and the University, needed each other.
By October 1983, the “Revo” had unraveled. Hard-line doctrinaire Marxists, led by Bernard Coard, staged an uprising at Fort George on October 19, assassinating Prime Minister Bishop and his ministers and massacring Grenadians who had come to free Bishop.
This unsettling development stirred the Caribbean and Washington. Including students, faculty, families and others, there were nearly 1,000 Americans on the island.
On October 25, at 5:00 am, “Operation Urgent Fury” began and suddenly, 6,000 U.S. troops were in Grenada. Within days, the students were flown to safety and classes were temporarily suspended. No students were hurt but 19 American servicemen died in the assault. Unwittingly, St. George's University School of Medicine became a household name.
Within two weeks, temporary classes resumed at the Brooklyn campus of Long Island University, the Rutgers Medical School in Piscataway, and St. Barnabas Medical School in Livingston, both in New Jersey. Another campus was soon established in Barbados, West Indies. The Grenada campus re-opened on January 10, 1984.
By 1987, St. George's obtained approval to conduct medical training in New York and New Jersey, making the University the first non-U.S. medical school to gain approval in both states. The British Medical Council granted the School limited recognition in 1988, an act that opened doors to wide acceptance in the British Commonwealth countries, and broadened St. George’s appeal as a leading institution for medical education and training.
International Medical Education
The School of Medicine currently has nine basic science departments: Anatomical Sciences, Behavioral Sciences, Biochemistry and Genetics, Bioethics, Pathology, Microbiology, Pathophysiology and Pharmacology, Physiology and Neuroscience, and Clinical Skills; five separate clinical departments focused on Internal Medicine, Surgery, Obstetrics/Gynecology, Psychiatry and Pediatrics and an alliance with the Windward Islands Research and Education Foundation (WINDREF), an independent research institute located on the Grenada True Blue Campus.
Medical students matriculate in the School of Medicine twice per year, in August and January. The last two years of their four-year program are conducted in over 50 affiliated clinical centers and hospitals across the United States and the United Kingdom. The hospitals, where most of the clinical training for interns, residents, and medical students occur, include The Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center, Manhattan Psychiatric Center, Mt. Vernon Hospital, Miami Children’s Hospital, Maryland General Hospital, Spring Grove Hospital Center, Atlantic Health System, JFK Medical Center, and 37 other hospitals. In the United Kingdom, the affiliates include The Great Western Hospital, Princess Royal Hospital, Royal Hampshire County Hospital, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and 13 other hospitals.
As a result of the University’s innovative curriculum, strict focus on teaching, close professorial support and broad range of student services, the dedicated students and graduates of St. George’s have developed a reputation for scholastic and professional excellence at every level. One key measurement of success has been the University’s performance on the U.S. licensing examinations (USMLEs), which has been consistent throughout. Today’s graduates typically score on parity with U.S. students on the USMLE Step 1 Exam scores, occasionally even surpassing them as happened in 2000.
Additionally, of the U.S.-eligible who apply for residency positions, 99 percent are regularly accepted. These scores have served to attract more students, as well as grab the attention of the U.S. medical establishment. Indeed, the quality of St. George’s University students has led Professor J.G. Nicholls from the International School for Advanced Studies in Switzerland to say, “I have not found students of medicine with this high degree of openness, enthusiasm and high critical ability at Oxford, Yale, Harvard, Stanford or Basel.”
A central part of the St. George’s University experience is the commitment to student support services and individual academic development. The Dean of Students and the Department of Educational Services (DES) augment the close relationship between professor and student. Centered in the School of Medicine, the DES is open to all students and provides a variety of academic support services, including seminars in study skills, time management, test taking; tutorials and the Specialized English Language Programs (SELP) geared toward the study of medicine. DES works closely with the Dean of Students to ensure that each student succeeds.
New Programs and Schools
While the School of Medicine symbolizes the quintessential St. George’s University experience, the commitment to academic excellence led to new developments in other educational fields. In 1993, the University expanded its offerings in healthcare education by instituting graduate and undergraduate programs, and in 1996, it was granted a charter for the School of Arts and Sciences and the Graduate Studies Program.
There was an immediate and overwhelming response from the Grenadian people, as well as people in the region who were anxious to take advantage of this opportunity for tertiary education. The School began offering night courses in the Fall of 1996, and began offering baccalaureate degree programs in January 1997 in international business, life sciences, medical sciences, premedical and preveterinary medicine.
Degrees under development are hotel management/tourism, teacher training, marine biology, nursing, pharmacy, and physician's assistant. Reflecting on the dynamic growth and broad range of academic offerings, Dr. The Honorable Keith Mitchell, Grenada's Prime Minister, has noted that with each passing year, St. George's University becomes more involved at the community level, as well as providing new learning opportunities for our young people. I believe this is because the University recognizes the needs of a developing country.
The School of Veterinary Medicine, which was established in 1999, signals the University's evolution as an international institution and reaffirms its commitment to offering a broad range of opportunities in the medical field. Veterinary Anatomy, Histology, Embryology, Physiology, Parasitology, Virology, Pharmacology, Large Animal Medicine, Ethics/Jurisprudence, Small Animal Surgery Pathology and Immunology are just some of the courses available to students. Another academic milestone in the University's history was the establishment of the research institute leased to the Windward Islands Research and Education Foundation (WINDREF). In 1993, the University began an MD/MSc program wherein students work on investigative projects, write a thesis and are awarded an MSc degree while studying for their MD degree. At WINDREF, research work has included epidemiology, anthropology, virology, conservation ecology, marine biology, and in particular, public health issues that affect Grenada and the surrounding region.
Breathtaking New Campus
Central to the University's evolution over the years has been the major architectural development of its main campus, which covers the True Blue peninsula in the southwestern corner of Grenada overlooking the Caribbean Sea.
A quick glance at this majestic campus city and its pastel-tinted neo-Georgian buildings reveals nothing of its humble beginnings. The first class actually studied in a convention center leased by the government to St. George's. This facility could not accommodate all of the students, so some of them moved to Grand Anse, which became the second campus.
Back on Grenada, the University launched a $25m building project that would ultimately create the impressive new True Blue campus. The last decade alone has seen the construction of over 50+ new buildings, including a state-of-the-art library, anatomy labs, dormitories, a student center, lecture halls, a research institute and administrative centers, making the new True Blue campus an international symbol of architectural and academic excellence.
A Partner in the Community
As one of the leading education centers in the Caribbean, St. George's University has been an active and vital member of the community. The research programs of St. George’s on-campus affiliate, the Windward Islands Research and Education Foundation (WINDREF), have improved personal and public health as well as areas of the economy, in Grenada and the Caribbean. The University contributes $225,000 (U.S.) for hospital equipment and general welfare each year and provides salary supports for its educational programs at the hospital.
The University employs over 500 Grenadians, with that number increasing as new professionals are brought on staff for the School of Arts and Sciences. Many University students in Grenada rent off-campus housing, thereby contributing to the local economy.
The University outperforms the public utilities and the hotel sectors as the single largest source of hard currency on the island and one of the bigger employers. Its building program has also generated much employment within the local economy.
The University has sponsored and underwritten numerous programs in the social services arena, including charities such as Orphans and Elderly Fund, Bel Air Home for Abused Kids and the Grenada Heart Foundation, which has facilitated heart surgeries free of charge for over 100 children and adults in Grenada. The students organize health fairs around the island every semester, helping to identify health problems for hundreds of Grenadians, and the annual reception for Orphans and Elderly Fund continues to raise money and awareness for the cause.
Above all, St. George's University continues to play an important role in producing outstanding doctors, striving to improve healthcare systems regionally and globally, and promoting the highest goals of the medical profession. Indeed, one of the conditions of the original charter was a requirement that St. George's provide five annual tuition-free scholarships to qualified Grenadians. To date, the University has awarded over 100 scholarships to citizens of Grenada and St. Vincent, enabling them to achieve the dream of becoming a doctor, and work for the government, at clinics, in private practice, as clinical tutors for the University at the general hospital, and in the basic sciences program.
Now celebrating 30 years of academic excellence in the field of medical education, St. George's University is also re-affirming its commitment to and service for society in general. What began as a mere dream has been realized as a powerful agent for human betterment and empowerment.
St. George's University School of Medicine is listed with the World Health Organization and is approved by the Government of Grenada to confer the Doctor of Medicine, the Baccalaureate, and the MSc degrees.
In the United States, the state governments of New York, New Jersey and California have approved St. George's medical program to allow for clinical training of St. George's University students in teaching hospitals within those states.
The School of Medicine has Limited Registration status with the General Medical Council of Great Britain, and has affiliations with a number of hospitals in the United Kingdom. The University is also recognized and approved by the government of Grenada to confer the degrees of MSc, PhD, MPH, and DSc.
