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"My goals were to improve the healthcare delivered to the
less fortunate and underprivileged, particularly in The Bahamas,
and to
be in a position to influence positive change in the lives of
individuals." Dr Glen Beneby
Dr
Glen Beneby worked tirelessly to advance the practice of
anaesthesiology at the Princess Margaret Hospital and to improve
medicine in The Bahamas. He is a greatly respected medical
professional and public speaker.
Glen Samuel Beneby was
born on 18th August, 1953 in Nassau, The Bahamas. He had a
happy childhood, growing up in a home where love and discipline
were given equal emphasis. He attended Sands Government
Primary School and Eastern Junior School before winning a
government scholarship to the Bahamas Government High School
where he eventually became the Head Boy. He then studied
medicine at The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona,
Jamaica, graduating in 1978. He interned at the Princess
Margaret Hospital for a year before joining the Department of
Medicine. In 1981, he furthered his studies at the
University of Sheffield, England, emerging in 1984 as the first
Bahamian Fellow of the Royal College of Anaesthetists, London.
In 1985, when a UWI-associated
postgraduate programme in anaesthesia was established at the
Princess Margaret Hospital, Dr Beneby was appointed Associate
Lecturer in Anaesthesia. He became Head of the Department
of Anaesthesia at the hospital in 1986, establishing a
Respiratory Maintenance Division in 1987 and a Reference Library
in 1988. The Department currently runs the hospital's
Intensive Care Unit.
In 1989, Dr Beneby
invented an anaesthetic mouthguard to protect the upper teeth
from harm arising from anaesthetic intubation during surgery.
In 1990, he became a founding member of the Commonwealth of The
Bahamas Academy of Medical Sciences and served the Princess
Margaret Hospital as its Medical Staff Coordinator. In
1996, he helped to form Physicians Alliance Limited. This
 partnership brought together the knowledge of private doctors
and the healthcare resources of the government, benefiting
doctors and patients alike.
In
1998, Dr Beneby was appointed Chairman of the Ethics Committee
for the review of the American National Institutes of Health
AIDS research in The Bahamas. In 2000, he represented the
Caribbean at the World Congress in Anaesthesiology in Montreal,
Canada.
In 2003, he headed the team responsible for
developing tele-medicine in The Bahamas and, in 2004, he led the
team that reported on damage caused to the nation's health
services by Hurricane Frances. In 2006, he helped found
the UWI Medical School Research Committee based in The Bahamas.
In the epilogue of his
1995 book, A Model for Developing Anaesthesia Services in
Developing Countries, Dr Beneby reminds his readers of their
potential, writing, "You are gifted, you are unique..., your
talent is unique, only you can make your contribution to your
profession. Be positive... focussed and make the
difference."
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