The American College of Surgeon’s has accepted Professor Newton Duncan for Membership to its Academy of Master Surgeon Educators.  The mission of the Academy is to play a leadership role in advancing the science and practice of education across all surgical specialties, promoting the highest achievement in the lifetimes of surgeons. 

Academy members are selected by a rigorous peer-review process and are elected by its steering committee.  Induction into the Academy is a very high honour.  The founding members of the Academy were inducted in 2018 and the current membership of the Academy includes 223 members, associate members and affiliate members.  The next induction ceremony will be conducted virtually on Friday, October 15, 2021.

Joseph Plummer, Professor & Head of the Department of Surgery, Radiology, Anaesthesia & Intensive Care commented on Professor Duncan’s achievement stating that: “The Department congratulates Dr Newton Duncan, Professor of Paediatric Surgery and former Head of Department  on his recent appointment to the Academy of Master Surgeon Educators.  This appointment will allow him to extend his leadership role in advancing the science and practice of surgery across all its disciplines and work with the American College  of Surgeons to foster the further development of Surgery in Jamaica and the region.

“Prof Duncan is the first and sole surgeon working in the region to receive this honour and the Department looks forward to his continued work in surgical education and research at the University of the West Indies.”

Professor Duncan is currently the Supervisor of the Doctor of Medicine (DM) Paediatric Surgery Training Programme at The UWI.  He is a graduate of the UWI DM Programme in Surgery and was the recipient of a Commonwealth Scholarship to study Paediatric Surgery at Booth Hall Children’s Hospital, University of Manchester.  He was the first surgeon from the Caribbean to receive the International Guest Scholarship Award from the American College of Surgeons in 1995 and served as Head of the Department of Surgery Radiology Anaesthesia and Intensive Care from 2011-2017.  Graduates from the Paediatric Surgery training programme which he initiated in 1998 lead specialist Units throughout the Caribbean.

Professor Duncan is the first surgeon based in the Caribbean to be inducted into the Academy of Master Surgeon Educators of the American College of Surgeons.

Reacting to this achievement Professor Duncan said “As a graduate of the Doctor of Medicine (Surgery) UWI training program, this award represents a significant career landmark. I take it as an international affirmation of the high standard of the UWI postgraduate surgery training program. It is also a declaration of support for the methodologies and principles conveyed to trainees by past and present teachers I hope to use this access to the major decision-makers in surgical education in the American College of Surgeons to work through the SURRADIC Department to expand opportunities for advanced surgical training at North American Centers of Excellence”.