Rising Stars alum Orane Green a pioneer at UWI
Sole graduate in biomedical instrumentation happy to complete degree
Published:Wednesday | November 8, 2023 | 12:09 AMSashana Small/Staff Reporter
On Saturday, Orane Green felt a deep sense of pride as he was conferred with a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Instrumentation by The University of the West Indies, Mona, knowing that he was the only student to complete the programme.
“I feel so amazing to have the degree and to know that I can say that I am the first person with the degree. It does make me feel special,” he told The Gleaner.
This area of study is engineering concerned with devices and mechanics used to measure, evaluate, and treat biological systems.
Green explained that his initial plan was to study biomedical engineering when he entered The UWI in 2019, but he could not matriculate as he did not have all the prerequisites. After an academic counselling session, he was steered to this programme that was introduced the same year he started.
Lucky for him, it turned out to be the “perfect fit”.
“It works well with the fact that I am multifaceted. I am multidimensional when it comes to my academic pursuit,” he said. “I can do many different things now, I can speak on physiology anatomy, I can speak about programming a device or just programming in general, I can speak about designing prosthetics for people, all those little things that the initial degree that I wanted wouldn't have given me so much breadth of knowledge.”
Green was one of four other students pursuing this degree, but the only one to complete it.
The Manning's School alumnus is currently pursuing a master's degree in philosophy and applied psychics at The UWI and aims to work in the field of nanotechnology. Ultimately, he wants to make wearable optical sensors work better on people with darker skin tones.
This drive to create change is something that the 23-year-old said is instinctive, and it was something that characterised his school years.
During his tenure, the Waterworks, Westmoreland, native was the department representative for two consecutive years, and created initiatives to not only promote academic success, but encourage others to explore and nurture other talents.
NURTURING TALENT
This was a piece of advice that he also applied to his life as he had been singing since high school and even won a vocal scholarship from the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts during his first year.
With a bit of nudging of his friends, he entered the 'Digicel Rising Stars' competition in 2022 and finished in the top eight.
“It was a really good experience,” he said of the talent contest. “I really just went there to have fun. I didn't think I would make it into the competition, so it was a pleasant surprise when I got into it.”
Green told The Gleaner that he had to balance school and an internship with the competition.
The older of two brothers, he also shared that a big motivation for him is a desire to make his family proud.
And as he chases the next goal, he is confident that each one is leading him closer to creating a revolution in medicine.
“I want to revolutionise and personalise medicine,” he said. “I want everyone's medicine and the amount that they get and their treatments to be completely customisable to them so they have the least amount of adverse impact on their health. I really want to do my best to help push forward diversity and eliminate discrimination in the medical field.”