International American University was founded in October 2003 in Vieux Fort, Saint Lucia by an act of the Parliament of the Government of Saint Lucia. On February 1, 2004, with only nine students and five departments, classes began. IAU Students come from all across the United States and around the globe, including Canada, India, Nigeria, United States, United Kingdom, West Indies, and Zambia, to experience a truly personalized medical education.
At the invitation of the Government of Saint Lucia, the founding members of IAU established the College as a direct response to the needs and aspirations of American pre-medical students wanting to serve the U.S. Health Care system. For the last decade, University leadership and members of the IAU College of Medicine community have been dedicated to developing caring physicians who are interested in improving the state of global health care, including that of the Americas. The University’s innovative case-based curriculum, with clinical integration, is led by an international faculty dedicated to student success and continues to attract students from across the globe.
The founding dean of the University, Paul Cherian, MD, developed an innovative curriculum, aimed at developing students’ knowledge of the basic sciences as well as enhancing their problem solving skills through a problem based learning curriculum. He led the founding faculty in delivering a student centered curriculum which continues to be the cornerstone of the University’s success. John Minarcik, MD, was one of the initial faculty members recruited to teach at IAU, and continues to serve on the faculty to this day. Also, Olusina Adesanya, MD, the founding faculty member in Clinical Medicine also continues to serve on the faculty of IAU to this day. All of the founding faculty members had been educated either in the United States, Canada, Europe, and commonwealth countries and their broad range of experience led to the delivery of a student centered pedagogy aimed at graduating humble and skillful physicians. Over the years, faculty from the Philippines, Canada, Nigeria, and the United States, have joined the growing IAU community.