James Kerby Estimé was a dual degree candidate in two universities in Haiti.
He graduated #3 in his class in June 2017 with a degree in Pharmacology from Universite D’Etat D’Haiti, and he will receive a degree in Medicine from Notre Dame University in 2018, after he completes his internship at the Hôpital Universitaire Justinien in Cap Haitien. He is a brilliant young man with a strong drive for success. With both degrees, he believes he stands a very good chance of being employed after graduation.
Kerby is from Liancourt, a small town in the Artibonite Valley, about 60 miles from Port-au- Prince. His mother is a work at home seamstress and his stepfather, a mason. Kerby was encouraged, no actually, he was required to study and work hard in school. His mother, Yvrose, did not allow him to participate in sports or anything else but study. “No football (soccer), no basketball, and no playing cards. It was just the books for me,” he declared. But this dedication was rewarded when he received a scholarship from the Crosby Fund in 2006, when he was in the eleventh grade. He has exceled ever since.
During the summer of 2016, “Kerby” completed a six-week program in Belgium at the CHU Brugmann Hospital for medical practice in the ICU and Emergency Care Unit. He was joined in this teaching program with 40 other international students. This wonderful and challenging experience was awarded to Kerby, because he is graduating at the top of his class from the University of Notre Dame in Medicine.
In 2016, Kerby started a small clinic in a church in Liancourt, his home town, on Saturday mornings to see patients, who cannot afford medical care. If they are seriously ill, he tries to help them go to the hospital. But many times, he says, patients have minor problems, and he is able to assist them and give them donated medicine. His clinic is rarely open these days while he is in the north serving his internship. But he plans to return to his home town in the near future and maybe someday open a small hospital in Liancourt to serve the people in the area where he was raised.