In 1982, our founder, Dr. Yele Akande, arrived in Antigua & Barbuda with a bold vision: to build a medical school where none existed, on the grounds of the former NASA Apollo Tracking Station at Dow’s Hill, Piccadilly. What began as an ambitious idea quickly turned into a lifelong mission. From the start, he believed that a medical education should be accessible to students from all over the world. That belief became the guiding motto of the University of Health Sciences Antigua (UHSA): Medical School to the World.

UHSA quickly embraced the future. It was one of the first institutions on the island to leverage technology in higher education and played a key role in establishing and managing the “.AG” domain, a responsibility it continues to uphold.

Unlike many medical schools in the Caribbean region, UHSA remains privately and family-owned. This independence has allowed it to grow deliberately, building global partnerships and welcoming students from across the globe. Its leadership remains focused on academic rigor and ethical standards while continuing to uphold the values Dr. Akande instilled from the beginning.

More than 40 years later, UHSA has graduated students from over 21 countries. Its alumni have gone on to train in a wide range of specialties, including surgery, internal medicine, pediatrics, and obstetrics and gynecology. Many now serve as department heads, chief residents, professors, and lecturers at institutions such as the Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Yale, and Oxford.

Their work is the true legacy of UHSA. It is a university built with vision, shaped by purpose, and guided by the belief that great physicians can come from anywhere when given the opportunity.