About Monica Lewin
Published
Dr Monica Lewin (1925 to 1998) was the first general surgeon based at Bustamante Hospital for Children, which opened in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1963.
She trained at the Royal Free Hospital in London, became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1962, and was one of the first female consultant surgeons in Jamaica.
The start
Born in Clarendon, Jamaica, on 15/08/1925, she won a government scholarship in 1944 to study medicine at the Royal Free Hospital, London, and qualified in 1952.
The breakthrough
She became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1962, and a year later surgeon to Kingston's Children's Hospital and Kingston Public Hospital.
The legacy
One of the first female consultant surgeons in Jamaica, she treated many victims of political violence. Back in London she worked at the Whittington and Royal Northern hospitals.
Not for her own benefit but for the benefit of her own people.
References
- Duncan N. Paediatric surgery in Jamaica: the major role of women in its development. Jamaica Observer. 16/03/2022. Available from: https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2022/03/16/paediatric-surgery-in-jamaica-the-major-role-of-women-in-its-development/
- Royal College of Surgeons of England. Black surgeons past and present. 27/10/2020. Available from: https://www.rcseng.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/archive/black-surgeons-past-present/
- Ferry G. Monica Lewin: surgeon to victims of political violence in Jamaica. The Lancet. 2021;397(10286):1701.
- Royal College of Surgeons of England. Lewin, Monica. Plarr's Lives of the Fellows.
- BMJ. 1999;318:61.
