President
Dr Nigel Bascombe
Trinidad and Tobago
Leads the Society's regional agenda and chairs the annual scientific programme, with a practice centred on advanced laparoscopic colorectal and bariatric surgery.
About CaSES
Surgeons deeply committed to excellence and optimal patient care.
The Caribbean Society of Endoscopic Surgeons brings together endoscopic surgeons from all over the Caribbean region to promote excellence in patient care and professional development.
Our mission
Bring together endoscopic surgeons from all over the Caribbean region.
To promote excellence in patient care and professional development — and to provide a platform for education, the exchange of ideas and the collaboration that advances endoscopic surgery in the Caribbean.
CaSES was established in 2013 by a group of dedicated endoscopic surgeons who recognised the need for a specialised society to support their practice. What began as a handful of colleagues comparing notes has become the professional home for minimally invasive surgery in the region.
Membership has since expanded to include surgeons from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and across the wider Caribbean, spanning general surgery, gastroenterology and gynaecology. Our members are board-certified surgeons and residents providing a regional quality platform for the enhancement of surgical care, academic teaching and surgical training.
- Caribbean nations reached
- Annual scientific conferences
- Surgeons and residents trained
- Serving the region since
What we set out to do
Six objectives the Society is measured against.
- 01
Quality of patient care
Raising the standard of surgical excellence and safety across every theatre our members operate in.
- 02
Education and exchange
Regular educational events, workshops and symposiums that put regional surgeons in the same room.
- 03
Research and development
Supporting regional research with funding and an annual scientific symposium to publish it through.
- 04
Community outreach
Public education on what endoscopic procedures are, what they can do, and who they are for.
- 05
Evidence-based practice
Digital data banking that turns the region's operative experience into regional standards.
- 06
Professional development
A structured pathway from first laparoscopic skills through to teaching the next cohort.
Core values
Primum non nocere — first, do no harm.
Everything the Society teaches rests on three commitments. They are what a patient is entitled to expect when a CaSES member operates.
Safety First
Everything we do has one central thought, the age-old medical saying Primum non Nocere. Protocol checks run before, during and after every surgery.
Minimal Impact
Modern minimally invasive techniques paired with fast-track postoperative protocols, so patients spend less time in hospital and more time recovering at home.
Evidence-Based Medicine
Digital data banking gives our surgeons real-time feedback on surgical outcomes, turning regional experience into regional standards.
Executive Board · 2023 — present
The Board of Directors
Elected by the membership, the Board oversees the Society's operations, its scientific programme and its strategic direction across the region.
Immediate Past President
Dr Linberg Simpson
Jamaica
Guided CaSES through its expansion across the Eastern Caribbean and continues to lead hands-on pre-conference training for the region's surgical residents.
Vice President, Education & Training
Dr Carlos Wilson
Jamaica
Directs the Society's CME curriculum, wet-lab courses and the structured training pathway for surgeons entering minimally invasive practice.
Treasurer
Dr Natacha Paquette
Barbados
Stewards the Society's finances and the funding that underwrites regional research grants, travel bursaries and the annual symposium.
Secretary
Dr Vonetta George
Antigua and Barbuda
Keeps the Society's governance, membership records and regional correspondence, and is the first point of contact for prospective members.
Contact the Board
Governance matters, membership queries and regional correspondence go through the Secretary.
Regional impact
One standard, thirteen nations, one archipelago.
A surgeon in Kingstown and a surgeon in Kingston face different budgets and different equipment, but the same anatomy. The Society exists so that the standard of care does not depend on which island the patient was born on.
Our outreach runs in both directions. Regional faculty teach the wet labs and live surgery sessions, and international faculty bring techniques that members then adapt to the theatres and instrument sets they actually have.
Community outreach and public education on endoscopic procedures sit alongside the clinical work, because a minimally invasive service is only as good as the referral pathway feeding it.
Members practise across
- Jamaica
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Barbados
- Antigua and Barbuda
- St Vincent & The Grenadines
- St Kitts and Nevis
- Guyana
- Curaçao
- Grenada
- Saint Lucia
- Dominica
- The Bahamas
- Belize
Surgeons and residents trained
Annual scientific conferences
Affiliations
We do not work alone.
CaSES works alongside the regional and international bodies that shape surgical standards, public health policy and research across the Caribbean.
- AHPBAAmericas Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association
- WHOWorld Health Organization
- CCOSCaribbean College of Surgeons
- CMJCaribbean Medical Journal
- CARPHACaribbean Public Health Agency
- PAHOPan American Health Organization
- SOSTTSociety of Surgeons of Trinidad and Tobago
- COFCaribbean Obesity Forum
- CSHBSCaribbean Society for Hepatobiliary Surgery