Bio
Reginald Punwasi was born in Guyana on January 30th, 1932. Reggie was always a brilliant student and graduated from the Port Mourant Roman Catholic School and the Corentyne High School. He obtained scholarships to many schools in the United States and decided to attend Southern Illinois University where he obtained his Bachelor's and Master's in Biology. He then acquired two Masters degrees from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, one in BioChemistry and the other in Plant Pathology. He also started down the path towards his Doctorate Degree.
After two years as an Associate Professor at Wisconsin, he returned to Guyana in 1966 to serve his country as a high-ranking officer within the Department of Agriculture. He spent four years living in many parts of the country testing and treating the soil to ensure it was fertile to support plant life. In 1970, Reggie moved the family to the USA to start his crusade on scientific research on various diseases. He began with cancer research in New York, then eventually migrated to DNA-related diseases with a move to Houston. World-class stops for Reggie include:
Research at Albert Einstein Medical Center
Tenured Professor of Science at Hunter College of the City University of New York
Research at New York University Medical Center and Brooklyn Downstate Research Hospital
Research at Houston Medical Center and Veteran's Administration Hospital (Michael DeBakey building)
Microbiologist at Anheuser Busch
In 1993, Reggie was diagnosed with cancer - the same disease he spent the majority of his life finding a cure for. Reginald Punwasi passed away May 10th, 2000. Throughout his life, and even through his struggles with cancer, Reggie always had a smile on his face and remained an inspiration to his friends and family.
Reggie married the beautiful and loving Sylvia Durgana on December 8th, 1956 and they remained together until the time of his death. He is survived by Sylvia, 3 children: Readwin, Roxanne and Kevin and 4 grandchildren: Briana, Logan, Leila and Leyton.
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