- Rebecca Wallersteiner
- London, UK
- wallersteiner{at}hotmail.com
Carissa Faustina Etienne was born in the Dutch Caribbean Island of Curaçao to Antoine Joseph Etienne and Bertilia Birmingham, who were both teachers. Her father was also a probation officer. As a child, Etienne walked barefoot to and from school, leaving her shoes behind, as she wanted to be like her classmates, who went barefoot. Addressing future physicians many years later, in 2021, at the Ross University School of Medicine in Barbados, Etienne described her childhood home: “Neighbours became family to be cared for and there was a quiet, yet powerful sense of belonging, community, and faith.” At home, Etienne had plenty of books and read voraciously. Encouraged by her parents and teachers, she was an outstanding student. She decided to become a doctor after learning the harsh reality of maternal mortality when she was 7. Etienne was playing near her beloved grandmother, when a heavily pregnant woman walked towards them along the street, carrying a suitcase. Etienne’s grandmother greeted the woman and wished her “a safe passage.” Etienne asked her grandmother why “safe passage”? Her grandmother replied, “Because many women who go to the hospital to deliver a baby never come back.” This made a huge impression on Etienne and drove her to study medicine so she could help improve the odds for poor women. An ambitious and determined child, she skipped a few primary grades and won scholarships to attend medical school and for postgraduate studies. She remained powerfully connected to her Dominican roots until her death.
Medical education
Etienne read medicine at the University of the West Indies, qualifying as a doctor in 1976. In the same year she returned to her hometown, aged 24, to begin her career as “only one of two female …