Karen Roslyn Vanessa Cummings is a Guyanese politician who was the country's

Foreign Minister A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

from May 2019 to August 2020.

Early life and education

Cummings is from

Berbice Berbice is a region along the Berbice River in Guyana, which was between 1627 and 1792 a colony of the Dutch West India Company and between 1792 to 1815 a colony of the Dutch state. After having been ceded to the United Kingdom of Great Britain ...

and graduated from Bishops' High School. She has a Bachelor of Science in

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

and a

MBBS Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United King ...

from the

University of Guyana The University of Guyana, in Georgetown, Guyana, is Guyana's national higher education institution. It was established in April 1963 with the following Mission: "To discover, generate, disseminate, and apply knowledge of the highest standard for ...

as well as a Masters of Public Health from

St. George's University St. George's University is a private medical school and international university in Grenada, West Indies, offering degrees in medicine, veterinary medicine, public health, the health sciences, nursing, arts and sciences, and business. St. Geo ...

Grenada Grenada ( ; Grenadian Creole French: ) is an island country in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Pe ...

. As of 2016, she was undertaking a

Doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

in Public Health from

Walden University Walden University is a private online for-profit university headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It offers Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, Master of Business Administration, Master of Public Administration, Master of Public Health, E ...

in the United States.

Career

Cummings was a medical registrar at the

Georgetown Public Hospital Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC), in Georgetown, Guyana, is the country's largest hospital. GPHC is the main teaching hospital in Guyana and serves as both a regional public hospital and as the national referral hospital. Its Seaman's Ward, the ...

as well as a Government Medical Officer and Regional Medical Superintendent. Cummings became a Member of

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

in 2014, and advocated for

gender equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing d ...

and

healthcare Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...

reform. She was sworn in as a junior minister, Minister within the Ministry of Public Health in the Cabinet of the APNU + AFC Cabinet on 20 May 2015. Cummings was appointed Foreign Minister by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

David A. Granger David Arthur Granger (born 15 July 1945) is a retired military officer who served as the 9th President of Guyana from May 2015 to August 2020. He served for a time as Commander of the Guyana Defence Force and subsequently as National Security A ...

on 2 May 2019, replacing

Carl Barrington Greenidge Carl Barrington Greenidge (born March 3, 1949) is a Guyanese politician from People's National Congress. From May 2015 to April 2019, he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and one of the vice presidents in the cabinet of David A. Granger. ...

who was one of four government ministers forced to resign after the High Court's decision that holding dual citizenship was unconstitutional for the role. Cummings admitted to reporters that she was surprised at being chosen for the role but that she was "prepared for the task." During the March 2020 presidential election, it was reported that Cummings had met with international observers and warned that their credentials might be withdrawn because the government was unhappy with statements they had made, and received criticism from former

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Owen Arthur Owen Seymour Arthur, PC (17 October 194927 July 2020) was a Barbadian politician who served as the fifth prime minister of Barbados from 6 September 1994 to 15 January 2008. He is the longest-serving Barbadian prime minister to date. He also s ...

among others for threatening them in their role as observers. The government subsequently issued a statement saying "We regret any misunderstanding the comments of the Foreign Affairs Minister may have caused."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cummings, Karen Living people University of Guyana alumni Members of the National Assembly (Guyana) Guyanese women in politics Foreign ministers of Guyana Female foreign ministers Year of birth missing (living people)