Of Indian ancestry, Pyne was schooled at Campion Hall Preparatory School (now Campion College) and later at St George's College where he excelled at chemistry, among other disciplines.

"I was a chemical engineer in the making. I liked mixing things," he tells The Sunday Gleaner. After Senior Cambridge Examinations, he went to work at the Soils Division in the Ministry of Agriculture, but not for long.

"I was bored, not happy there, so I applied to the school of medicine at the University of the West Indies (UWI)." He was enrolled only after his father, Rainford George Pyne, cashed in his life-insurance policy to pay the fees.

full scholarship

A full scholarship after his first term at medical school supported him through to graduation in 1970. Pyne went to Trinidad for internship, but although he was liking it there and "learning to appreciate curry", he returned to Jamaica and worked at the University Hospital as an emergency officer.

In 1973, after another year of studies, Pyne was one of three students who graduated from the UWI with a master of surgery degree.

The following year, he migrated to Canada. At Dalhousie University in Halifax, he completed a degree in general surgery in one year less than the normal time at the R4 level.

An FRCS - Fellow of the Royal College of Surgery (Canada) - he worked at Toronto Western Hospital as chief resident.

practised in texas

Always on the move, Pyne left Toronto after 13 months and took a job in Dallas, Texas, at Urshell, a medical facility, where he began practising as a thoracic surgeon.

"I learnt so much there, working with Drs Harold and Donald Paulson, but I left anyway and went back to Nova Scotia.

"I was invited to come home and work by Dr Trevor MaCartney, who was searching for a thoracic surgeon to work within the South East Regional Health Authority.

"I was interviewed, vetted and offered the job. I committed myself to the National Chest Hospital while starting a small private practice. My contract in March 2004 upped me to full-time consultancy for three years," Pyne discloses.

lovellette.brooks@gleaanerjm.com