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Born in Mayaro, Trinidad on August 3rd 1931, Knolly Alan Butler
attended primary school in San Fernando and St. Benedict’s
College (now Presentation College), San Fernando. After his
second year, he attended St. Mary’s College, Port of Spain and
later won an Island Scholarship.
He studied medicine at London University, England. He qualified
in 1956 and won the Internal Medicine Prize in his final year.
He then trained in surgery obtaining the Hallet Prize in 1958
and the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1960.
He returned to the Caribbean in 1963 to assume the post of
Senior Surgical Registrar at the University Hopital in Mona,
Jamaica. His department head was the prominent Guyanese surgeon,
Sir Harry Annamunthodo.
With strong support from Sir Harry, Butler returned to Trinidad
in 1967 to start a medical training programme. He initiated and
developed the Eastern Caribbean Medical Scheme and was the head
administrator in Trinidad for 23 years.
Between 1970 and 1971, he pursued vascular surgery at St. Mary’s
Hospital, London. He rose through the posts of Associate Dean,
Vice Dean and later Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and was the
Director of the School of Medicine at St. Augustine from 1983 to
1994. Two years after his retirement in 1995, he became the
first Director of the Clinical Programme, a new UWI medical
teaching programme in the Bahamas. He held the post until the
end of 1999, one year after receiving the title Professor
Emeritus.
Butler’s skills as a teacher were in demand in the Bahamas,
Jamaica and Trinidad. His love for teaching and his high
standard as an examiner have not allowed him any vacation from
the task. He still lectures two afternoons a week at the Mt.
Hope Medical Sciences Complex in Trinidad. He is an examiner for
both the Mt. Hope and Mona medical faculties and the
postgraduate school at Mona.
He is a founding member and present Chairman of the Trinidad and
Tobago Institute of the West Indies, a think tank, and a member
of the Association of Caribbean Surgeons. In 1987, he received
the Chaconia Medal (Gold) from the Government of Trinidad and
Tobago for his outstanding contribution.
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