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Courtenay Felix Bartholomew grew up in Port of Spain, Trinidad.
He attended Nelson Street Boys’ R.C. School and then St. Mary’s
College where he came 4th in the island in the House Scholarship
Awards of the Senior Cambridge Examination in 1948. He was an
avid sportsman in cricket, football and table tennis and after
obtaining the Higher School Certificate in languages in 1950, he
worked for four years in Her Majesty’s Customs before leaving
for Dublin, Ireland to pursue medical studies. He graduated in
medicine in 1960 from University College Dublin (UCD).
In 1964 he was the first West Indian to obtain a specialty
degree in the subspecialty of gastroenterology from the Royal
College of Physicians of Edinburgh and in 1965, he was awarded
the Doctorate in Medicine (DM) from the National University of
Ireland. He joined the Faculty of Medicine, UWI, in 1987 as the
first lecturer in medicine to inaugurate the Medical School in
Trinidad and Tobago. In 1983 he was awarded the MRCP degree
(Member of the Royal College of Physicians of London) and was
the only West Indian to be given this degree without
examination. He is also the only West Indian to be awarded
Honorary Fellowships from the three Royal Colleges (Ireland,
Edinburgh and London). He has served as visiting clinical
professor at the Liver Unit, University of Miami and the
Gastroenterology Unit of the Royal Victoria Hospital, McGill
University, Canada.
He was awarded the Chaconia Medal (Gold) by the Government of
Trinidad and Tobago in 1975 “for long and meritorious service”
and more recently in July 2004, he received the rare honour of
Honorary Fellow of the Faculty of Medicine of UCD. He has also
been appointed a member of the International Bioethics Committee
of UNESCO.
He has seventy-five (75) publications in peer reviewed
scientific journals and has written chapters in seven text books
of medicine.
He has also authored seven books on his research on the Blessed
Virgin Mary and has also spearheaded the restoration of three
historical Catholic churches in Trinidad, including the design
of twenty-five (25) stained glass windows.
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