On duty: Dr Romayne Edwards
THE sound of her notoriously high heels on the emergency room floor at the University Hospital of the West Indies can be heard from a mile away. She’s never off point, and this busy doctor credits her endurance and strong calves to her exercise regimen at Gymkhana.
Dr Romayne Edwards, consultant emergency medicine physician, is on duty, and ready to serve.
“It was while I was studying biology in high school that my teacher pointed out to me that I had a natural aptitude for the subject,” Dr Edwards told All Woman.
Indeed, as a child growing up in Manchester, she gravitated towards teaching, and, ‘I used to go around the house and beat the plants with a piece of stick’.
“My grandmother decided that she was going to buy me a ‘Ting Country’ blackboard. She gave me a piece of chalk and from then on I wanted to become a teacher. I use to play teacher with my friends,” she said.
The love for medicine called in high school, though, along with sports. The chance to teach would come later.
Dr Edwards is no absolute bookworm; by the time she entered the University of the West Indies (UWI), she was a well decorated athlete in her own right.
At Manchester High, as the fastest female in her form at the time, she was drafted to the track and field team. She eventually settled on throwing the discus, shot put and javelin.
Interestingly enough, she competed competitively at the national level at the Boys & Girls Athletics Championships.
“I was the captain of the team the year Manchester High won Champs, 1994,” she revealed.
After being awarded a first class honours degree in biochemistry, young Edwards entered the Faculty of Medical Sciences. And right from the onset of her sojourn through the faculty, she sought to strike a balance as she continued to play sports.
“While on hall I was actually quite active. I was awarded Irvinite of the Year 1999-2000. I was even the JAAA’s Academic Athlete of the Year 1995.”
An ardent supporter of the Jamaican football team, Dr Edwards is the team physician for the Waterhouse Football Club.
“Football is my number one sport at the moment. I really do love it so much! I also like track and cricket.”
She finds that balance is important especially in a field like medicine.
“Being a consultant is really hard work. I have to prepare not only for the team of residents but I have to prepare for my classes with medical students as well. Medicine is a field which is always changing and so for me to stay on the cutting edge of things I have to keep my skills and knowledge sharp,” she said.
Dr Edwards got to accomplish her childhood dream as she does teach — as an associate lecturer at UWI.
“If ever the pendulum should swing, it will always be in favour of my work; it will always be in favour of medicine,” she said.
Her philosophy is, ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me’, and at the moment she is looking happily towards a future with a family.
