Friends of IARC

“I am pleased to be counted among the Friends of IARC. I have first-hand knowledge of the Agency′s tradition of excellent work in international public health with its focus on cancer research, without which there is no hope for prevention or even cure of cancer.” 

Sir George Alleyne studied medicine at the University of the West Indies (UWI), followed by postgraduate training in the United Kingdom and the USA. He was Professor and Chair of the Department of Medicine at UWI before joining the staff of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in 1981 as Chief of Research Promotion and Coordination. In 1983 he became Director of Health Programs Development, and in 1990 he became Assistant Director of PAHO. In 1995 Sir George began the first of his two terms as Director of PAHO, ending his second four-year term in 2003. In 2003 he was appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General as Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean, a position he held until 2010. From 2003 until 2017 he was Visiting Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He was Chancellor of UWI from 2003 until 2017, when he became an Emeritus Professor.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II made him Knight Bachelor in 1990 for his services to medicine. In 2001 Sir George was awarded the Order of the Caribbean Community, the highest honour that can be bestowed on a Caribbean national.