UWI Mona to launch new School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences

The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona campus at the highest-decision making body outside of its annual business meeting of Council, the Campus Finance and General Purposes Committee, has approved a proposal from the Faculty of Medical Sciences to establish the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, which is set to begin operations in the 2025-2026 academic year.

The school aims to meet the growing national demand for specialised healthcare professionals to provide services in rehabilitation for children and adults.

This announcement comes at a critical time for Jamaica, and the nation’s agenda to meet the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) particularly SDG3 - to ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages; SDG 4, to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all; and SDG 10, to reduce inequality within and among countries.

In alignment with the Vision 2030 plan, UWI Mona, FMS is taking the bold step in training professionals who can provide much-needed services for children and adolescents with developmental disabilities, such as cerebral palsy and autism, and people in need of rehabilitative services for disabilities resulting from traumatic injuries and non-communicable lifestyle diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases, heart attacks and stroke.

The Faculty of Medical Sciences has long recognised the critical shortage of trained professionals in areas like speech and occupational therapy, and radiological sciences. The faculty is moving decisively to close those gaps and prepare a new generation of healthcare workers equipped to manage a wide range of special needs. The school will initially bring together existing programmes in physical therapy and radiological sciences, alongside two new offerings, speech and language pathology (SLP) and occupational therapy (OT). These disciplines will be housed under one umbrella, creating a collaborative, interdisciplinary environment focused on both academic training and clinical service delivery.

Game changer

“This school will be a major game changer for Jamaica’s education sector,” said Professor Densil A. Williams, principal of UWI Mona. “The School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences will provide Jamaica with highly qualified professionals to assist students with special needs to better position themselves in the education system in order to secure their success.

The dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences, Professor Minerva Thame, and the team from the faculty who conceptualised the project must be celebrated for this excellent institutional intervention that will have far-reaching positive impact on the human capital development of our nation.”

The initiative is part of the FMS’ ongoing efforts to align its academic programmes with the real-world health and developmental needs of Jamaica and the wider Caribbean. Currently, Jamaica has only a handful of occupational therapists and speech-language pathologists, most of whom operate in the private sector.

The scarcity of such professionals poses a major barrier to early intervention and support for children with developmental challenges, as well as adults in need of rehabilitation services.

While the clinical arm of the school will be implemented in phases, its long-term goal is to integrate fully with healthcare institutions, such as The University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI), offering holistic care that addresses the full spectrum of patient needs.

In time, the school is expected to expand further, incorporating additional rehabilitative disciplines to strengthen the overall health system in Jamaica. The initiative supports the calls from the Ministry of Health and Wellness and the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, both of which have emphasised the urgent need for these services to support national development goals.