Last Updated on Monday, 15 June 2026, 17:07 by Writer
Guyana-born American biotech innovator Dr Niven Narain is establishing a women’s health foundation in Guyana and the United States (US) that would be introducing mobile community and workplace testing to help detect diseases early.
“I honour my grandmother in taking the funds that are going to be received with this award, together with other members of my family, to start the Rukhminia Latchman Foundation for Women’s Health which will be dedicated to improving access to essential care for women,” he said shortly after he was inducted into the College of Laureates of the Anthony N. Sabga Awards for Caribbean Excellence for his contribution to science.
Dr Narain was awarded US$35,000.
And already, Executive Chairman of the Ansa McAl Group of Companies, A. Norman Sabga pledged to match Dr Narain’s initial contribution to the foundation which he received as part of his technology.
“Dr Narain you touched me deeply; your generosity. I will match your donation,” he said.
Dr Narain said his foundation would eventually be expanded to the rest of the Caribbean as more funds become available.
The co-founder and president of the Massachusetts-based biopharma company, BPGbio, said the first initiative is women’s health on wheels which would bring more medical services directly to working mothers, especially single mothers.
“No woman should have to choose between her health and her livelihood,” Dr Narain said.
He said he had already held talks with health minister Dr Frank Anthony to build the mobile units for deployment to do “simple things” like doing blood tests, pap smears, urine tests and breast examinations.
The data would then be imported into the technological system.
He later told Demerara Waves Online News that he hoped that the foundation would be able to detect cancers early. “I want these women to be diagnosed early in the life-cycle as possible. Then, we have a higher likelihood of them living,” he said.
Dr Narain said young women and children were dying of breast cancers in Guyana, in contrast to persons in their 60s, 70s and 80s in the US.
He said working women usually have very little time to go to the doctor and so the mobile testing centers would fill that gap. “They’re not going to go. It is hard for them to go to the doctor. Let’s go to the workplaces at least for them to have a first past of telling them ‘you know something looks a little off, go see a doctor’,” he said.
Dr Narain is credited with inventing a groundbreaking drug discovery platform powered by artificial intelligence that has produced approximately 650 US and international patents, over 100 high-impact scientific publications, and over 65 global relationships with leading medical schools, hospitals, governments and pharmaceutical companies.
A handbook for the 2026 Anthony N. Sabga Awards states that several pharmaceuticals developed using his platform and are advancing in late-stage clinical trials that are being reviewed by the US Food and Drug Administration for treatment of conditions ranging from aggressive cancers to rare skin disorders and age-related muscle loss, and childhood mitochondrial disorders.
He also told Demerara Waves Online News that scientists like himself must be able to measure outcomes in a verifiable way to ascertain AI’s impact, whether they are communicating the right way or helping consumers understand and whether there is an ethical approach to AI.
“There needs to be a balance between governance, not necessarily regulation, but governance and responsible understanding of the society,” he told Demerara Waves Online News.
The other awardees presented at the ceremony were visual artist Sheena Rose of Barbados (Arts & Letters), telecoms entrepreneur Dean Nevers of Jamaica (Entrepreneurship), social activist Shamelle Rice of Barbados (Public & Civic Contributions), and climate scientist Professor Tannecia Stephenson of Jamaica (Joint, Science & Technology).
The winner of each category receives the local currency equivalent of US$70,000.
In Science & Technology, the cash award was shared between Dr Narain and Professor Stephenson.
