NEW YORK, USA — She is well known for her work in obstetrics and gynaecology and instituted the Fibroid Center, the only facility in Brooklyn to offer an integrated gynecological, surgical and/or radiological approach to treatment.

She is not limited to the Fibroid Center because she believes that her services should not only be extended to the few who could afford it.

She deems it to be her mission to do community outreach and develop relationships with community organisations to give all women the opportunity to live a happy and healthy life.

Dr Comrie said that her passion to give service to every individual who needs it; her humanitarian spirit was developed through the guidance and wisdom of her mother. She characterised her mother as an “action person “and, “the brightest woman I had ever known”, who stood up for what she believed in and more importantly stood up for those who she believed in.

Dr Comrie’s mother would regularly stress the importance of getting a good education to her children. Her mother became the President of the Parent Teachers Association and paid for some of the children’s school fees, and visas to come to America if she believed those children with the proper education and guidance had the potential to become professionals. Through her mother’s guidance and her own hard work and determination she was admitted to Howard University and graduated Cum Laude a year early with a Bachelor’s degree in science.

After Howard University, Dr Comrie went to SUNY Downstate for Medical School, and spoke about some of the struggles that she encountered while pursuing her doctorate in medicine.

Dr Comrie, the sister of former Minister of Health, Labour and Social Security, and current Member of Parliament in Jamaica, Dr Fenton Ferguson told me a story of when she was taking a course in surgery, and despite working tirelessly in this course she did not receive a passing grade. She asked for her evaluation and the Professor wrote: “The girl does not speak English.” due to her Jamaican accent. Dr Comrie gave me a slight smile … not a smile that displayed joy, but the smile that many people of colour are accustomed to giving when they are encountered with such a blatant level of ignorance. Dr Comrie stood in disbelief over the comment, because her mother instilled within her children an appreciation of the English language and did not expect her children or friends to speak with as she said, “green verbs and blue adjectives”.

Her mother would teach her children about dangling participles and perfect tenses; the notion that she somehow could not speak English was ridiculous.

Dr Comrie told Downstate to give her a Professor that understood the difference between speaking a different language and speaking with an accent. Downstate placed her with a new Professor and he was confused by the grade she received in surgery, and she told the Professor it was all over an accent. She passed the surgical course with little difficulty.

During finals, Dr Comrie was pregnant with her first daughter in her second year of medical school and was undergoing labour. This did not prevent her from pursuing her MD, so while in labour she studied for her final examination, and after giving birth to her newborn child, her Professor brought her final examination to her while she was in the hospital. She passed the examination, and would later graduate with a Doctorate in Medicine.

Dr Comrie’s story will inspire every young person who takes the time to read it. Her conviction is that every young person has the potential to fulfil his or her destiny, but their potential could only be reached through striving and working toward obtaining a college degree.

When I asked her what last few words would she would like to leave the readers, she said with immense passion, “Get your education!”, and when reviewing her life, it is not difficult to understand Dr Comrie’s conviction. She still encountered much opposition due to racism and sexism but due to her degree, efforts to stop her progress were ineffective because her work spoke for itself.

Dr Comrie utilises her degree to influence and benefit the unprivileged. She has helped women who were considered barren, to have children. She has removed tumors the size of tennis balls from women, has worked with and dedicated herself to the victims of rape and abuse, and was honoured by The Victims of Violence, Rape Crisis Intervention.

The Jamaican-born is also a dedicated board member of the Red Hook Initiative, an organisation that attempts to close the gaps of intergenerational poverty and open the doors of education, employment, quality health care, and community development. Her life is the embodiment of the timeless quote delivered by Nelson Mandela in which he states: “An education is the most powerful tool which you can use to change the world.”

All the lessons that were given to Dr Comrie by her mother and father; she ensured that they were passed down to her two children. Both of her daughters completed their Bachelor’s degrees with one graduating from her mother’s alma mater Howard University, with her JD, and now has her own private law practice.

Dr Comrie recently lost one of her daughters and said that that was “the worst moment of my life”, but she understood that albeit difficult she could no longer remain in retirement, but she had to use the pain of losing her daughter to bring about a new sense of purpose to her work, and returned to the Women’s Center in Brooklyn where she has now practised for 45 years.

Dr Comrie fulfilled the hopes of her mother, overcame obstacles, and now stands tall as a legend in the field of medicine, displaying to us all what you can accomplish with hard work and hope.