Carissa Etienne: erstwhile leader of PAHO and WHO who transformed public health in the Caribbean

bmj;384/jan26_6/q199/FAF1faCarissa Faustina Etienne was born in the Dutch Caribbean Island of Curaçao to Antoine Joseph Etienne and Bertilia Birmingham, who were both teachers. Her father was also a probation officer. As a child, Etienne walked barefoot to and from school, leaving her shoes behind, as she wanted to be like her classmates, who went barefoot. Addressing future physicians many years later, in 2021, at the Ross University School of Medicine in Barbados, Etienne described her childhood home: “Neighbours became family to be cared for and there was a quiet, yet powerful sense of belonging, community, and faith.” At home, Etienne had plenty of books and read voraciously. Encouraged by her parents and teachers, she was an outstanding student. She decided to become a doctor after learning the harsh reality of maternal mortality when she was 7. Etienne was playing near her beloved grandmother, when a heavily pregnant woman walked towards…
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