Life in Medicine and the Arts

Henry Fraser’s entertainingautobiography starts with tales of a unique childhood growing up at the localgovernance centre of a rural parish in Barbados, where most parishionersvisited the offices of his parents at the family home. This rich communityinvolvement had a profound influence on his life of service. Sir Henry describeswhy he chose to study medicine at the University of the West Indies at Mona, Jamaica,and so became a passionate West Indian. After specialization and PhD studies inLondon, he returned to Barbados and helped to build better health care there. Hepromoted rational therapeutics regionally and globally, working with PAHO andWHO, and his research centre and wide-ranging research have greatly benefited theCaribbean. His passion for teaching, patient care, mentoring and managementshows throughout the book. Sir Henry hasbeen described as the Renaissance man of Barbados: in addition to hisremarkable medical career, he has been public orator for Barbados and for theUniversity of the West Indies, Cave Hill, and an independent senator in theBarbados Senate (where he discovered the reasons for the syndrome he labelledGovernment’s Implementation Deficit Disorder or GIDD). His other lifelongpassions have been art, architectural history and heritage preservation, andwriting. His autobiography makes fascinating reading: he is a natural storyteller and, as he often says, “History is his story.” The book is replete withcaptivating anecdotes and is illustrated with some of his paintings.