Basic Science Faculty

MBBS : Gauhati Medical University, Assam, India (2003)
Diploma in Family Welfare, Gauhati (2005)
Master in Public Health (MPH): John’s Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA(Pursuing)

Dr Dipak Kumar Sharma is a graduate from Guwahati Medical College Hospital and worked in various departments like Endocrinology, Nephrology and Cardiology as a Junior Resident.  Subsequently he worked with the tertiary level government hospital “IGMH” at Male’, Republic of Maldives, in the department of Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine. He also worked with the Polio eradication project in India under the World Health Organization. 

With a passion to teach and travel, Dr Sharma taught in China at Xiamen Medical University, Xiamen; Dali University, Dali, Yunnan; Luzhou University, Luzhou; Jiangxi University, Nanchang. Dr Sharma is a life member of the Indian Medical Association; Indian Public Health Association and the Indian Association for Preventive and Social Medicine. He also worked as a Research Assistant, while enrolled as a full time MPH student at the Johns Hopkins University, USA. He also did a course in Aging population at the Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, Spain. Dr Sharma taught Patho-Physiology at Xavier Medical School, Aruba, Netherlands Antilles previously and he teaches Embryology at IAU.

MS (Medical Anatomy) - Manipal University
PhD (Medical Anatomy) - Sikkim Manipal University

Dr. Sukhendu Dutta is a medical graduate from University of Calcutta, India. He also completed his post-graduation in Medical Anatomy from Manipal Academy of Higher Education and his PhD from Sikkim Manipal University. He has served as a faculty member and held administrative positions in different Medical Institutions in India and abroad. He has served as an internal and external examiner for various Universities since 2004. Dr. Dutta is a very resourceful person for medical education pedagogies.

Dr. Dutta has more than twenty presentation and publication in National and International Journals. He is a life member of Anatomical Society of India. A reviewer and editorial board member of various National and International Journals, Dr. Dutta’s research area is embryogenesis of blood vessels; morphology and morphometry of perimenopausal endometrium

MS (Molecular Biology and Genetics) 2006-Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
Master of Surgery (Human Anatomy including Human Genetics) 1998-University of Bombay, Bombay, India

Dr. Soans completed his Post graduation in Anatomy from the Prestigious Bombay University in India. He also obtained his MS in Molecular Biology from Wayne State University, MI. An active researcher Dr. Soans has served in the Departments of Neurology, Molecular Medicine and Genetics at Wayne State University. Dr. Soans was awarded Honors in the Graduate Students Academic and Research Program while at Wayne State University in 2003. He has many research publications to his credit and brings more than 15 years of academic experience to IAU.

MS (Chemistry) - University of the Philippines, Diliman (1991)
PhD (Biochemistry) - University of the Philippines, Diliman (1998)

Prof. James Vilanueva is the recepient of the DuPont - National Academy of Science and Technology Young Scientist Award in 2003 and has been teaching Medical Biochemistry, Genetics and Nutrition at IAU since 2005. He received the IAU Faculty of the Year Award in 2006 and was appointed as the Dean of Student Affairs in 2007 and elected Chairman of the Admissions Committee in 2008.  Dr. Vilanueva’s research interests include protein folding/misfolding, protein spectroscopy, development of immunoliposomes and biodesulfurization. He has completed Post Doctoral research work at Notre Dame University in Indiana; The Institute for Protein Research, Osaka University, Japan and Bari University, Italy. Over the years, Dr. Villaneuva has consistently made outstanding contribution to student success in NBME Shelf exams and is closely associated with the university student community as the Faculty Advisor to the Student Government Association (SGA). Dr Villaneuva was promoted to full Professor of Biochemistry, Genetics and Nutrition in September of 2011 and he continues to inspire and be inspired by academia.

MBBS:  Karnataka University, India (1997)
MD (Physiology): Rajiv Gandhi Health University, India (2005)

Dr. Vijay Kumar Narayan brings experience and innovation to teaching Physiology at IAU.  In the past, he served as faculty of Physiology at Sree Gokulam Medical College, Azzezia Medical College and Sree Anapoorna Medical College, India.   In addition, Dr. Narayan also has teaching experience in MLT, Speech and Hearing, Medical Electronics and MPT.

M.Ed (Educational Psychology) - University of Alberta, Canada
Dr.Phil (Cum Laude) (Clinical Psychology) - Eberhard Karls Universitaet Tuebingen, Germany

Dr. David Keyes received his Doctorate in Clinical Neuro-Psychology from the Eberhard Karls Universitaet Tuebingen in Germany, and a Registered Psychologist for over two decades now.  Over the years, he established his career as an Educator and a Psychologist in Germany, Switzerland, France and eventually moved to Canada, where he resumed his private practice until he joined IAU in 2006. Dr. Keyes has extensive background in Medical Psychology, Behavioral Sciences, Medical Law, Medical Ethics and Doctoring and has taught at medical schools  across Canada, United States, Germany, Switzerland and the Caribbean. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Disciplinary & Greivances Committee of IAU and Faculty Advisor to the Canadian Student Association (CSA).

MD - St Louis University School of Medicine (1992)
PhD - University of Berkley (2008)

Dr. Thomas Heston has ABMS certification in Nuclear Medicine, Nuclear Cardiology and Family Practice.  He is the Medical Director of Nuclear Medicine and Nuclear Cardiology at Family Care Network in Bellingham, Washington. Dr. Heston was awarded the "Best Essay Award" for scientific paper preparation and presentation at the 31st Annual Meeting of the American College of Nuclear Physicians in 2005.  In recognition for his contributions to nuclear medicine, Dr. Heston received Fellowship awards from the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology and the American College of Nuclear Medicine. He has also been awarded Fellow status by the American Board of Family Medicine for his contributions to the specialty.  In 2008, he completed his PhD in Behavioral Sciences & Biostatistics from the University of Berkley. He has been a visiting faculty for Behavioral Sciences and Doctoring courses at IAU since 2006.  He also serves as a voting member of the Admissions Committee to the College of Medicine..

Dr. S Jayasundar, Professor of Pharmacology at IAU, obtained his Masters degree from Prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India and his Doctorate from Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, N.S, Canada. He has been trained in Recombinant DNA Technology at Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore, India. Apart from India, he also worked with Universities in Canada, Nepal, Tanzania and People Republic of China. He has published more than 50 scientific articles, including publications in International Journals. He has a vast teaching experience of over 25 years.

MBBS – Bangalore University (2000)
MD (Pathology) – Rajiv Gandhi University (2007)

Dr. Raghavendra (Raghu) Pillappa earned his medical degree in Medicine and Surgery (MBBS) from Sri Devaraj Urs Medical College, India. He then completed his MD in Pathology with the highest score in the university final exam. He is a licensed Pathologist with the MCI and served as the Assistant Professor at MVJ Medical College in India, until he joined IAU in 2008. On numerous occassions, Dr Raghu has been recognized for his unparalled dedication to teaching and student success in Pathology. He also serves as the Chairman of the Promotions Committee at IAU and was appointed as the Assistant Dean of Basic Sciences in September 2011.

MD – University of Illinois (1972)

Dr. John Minarcik received his medical degree from the University of Illinois College of Medicine, and completed residencies in Pathology and Nuclear Medicine at Northwestern University and Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, achieving board certification in both. He engaged in the private practice of medicine until 2003 but maintained workshops in computer applications to pathology at national ASCP meetings. He also founded the internet's first pathology digital tumor image data base. Dr. Minarcik taught an entire pathology course at Rosalind Franklin's Scholl Medical School and an entire anatomy lab at Chicago Medical School. He currently teaches in the Caribbean and is an author of YouTube educational videos in pathology and histology, viewed over 5 million times.

MBBS-Rajiv Gandhi University

Dr. Kavitha Vijaykumar is licensed by the Medical Council of India and is a medical graduate from the premier institute Dr.B.R.Ambedkar Medical College in India. She has been a lecturer of Physical Diagnosis at International American University since January of 2011.

MBBS - Medical College, Gulbarga University, India
MS (Surgery) - Govt. Medical College Mysore, India

Dr. Ramachandra Thippaiah is a well-known General surgeon in St. Lucia. He is qualified from the Govt Medical College Mysore under Mysore University, a reputed medical institute in South India. He started his carrier in teaching as a lecturer in surgery at Dr B.R.Ambedker medical college, Bangalore, India. He was involved in teaching undergraduates and post graduates. His field of interest is Endoscopic surgery.  He came to St Lucia as consultant Surgeon at Victoria Hospital and is currently working with St Jude Hospital, Vieux Fort. Dr. Thippaiah attained his diploma and fellowship in Minimal Access surgery from the World Laparoscopy Hospital New Delhi in 2009. He is a Permanent member of the Caribbean College of Surgeons, Life member  of World Association of Laparoscopic Surgeons, International member SAGES, (Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons). He is associated with IAU since 2006.

MBBS - University of Lagos, Nigeria (1983)

Dr. Olusina Adesanya holds medical licenses in St. Lucia and his home country of Nigeria.  He is an attending physician of chronic non-communicable disease clinics Region 5 Primary Health Care St. Lucia as well as the Medical Director of Pre-hospital Medical Emergency Medical Services (special events and mass crowd events) St Lucia .  He completed his postgraduate training as a resident of Internal Medicine and Emergency Medicine at Lagos University Teaching Hospital in Lagos, Nigeria.  Dr. Adesanya holds numerous memberships in professional and honorary societies including the International Federation of Sports Medicine and the American College of Sports Medicine.  In addition to teaching and professional duties, Dr. Adesanya also serves as the Disaster Committee Coordinator and voting member of Disciplinary & Greivances Committee at IAU. 

MBBS - Bangalore University, India (1992) 
MD (Microbiology) Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, India (2000)

Dr. Kamala Narayanaswamy is licensed by the Medical Council of India and was a Postgraduate Resident in Medical Microbiology at the Bangalore Medical College, India.  She has been with IAU since 2006 as a visiting faculty and currently teaches full time at the St Lucia campus.  In addition to her teaching responsibilities, she is actively involved in affairs of Promotions, Curriculum, Lab development and Budgeting.