Carissa Faustina Etienne was born within the Dutch Caribbean Island of Curaçao to Antoine Joseph Etienne and Bertilia Birmingham, who have been each academics. Her father was additionally a probation officer. As a toddler, Etienne walked barefoot to and from college, leaving her footwear behind, as she wished to be like her classmates, who went barefoot. Addressing future physicians a few years later, in 2021, on the Ross University School of Medicine in Barbados, Etienne described her childhood house: “Neighbours became family to be cared for and there was a quiet, yet powerful sense of belonging, community, and faith.” At house, Etienne had loads of books and skim voraciously. Encouraged by her mother and father and academics, she was an impressive scholar. She determined to change into a physician after studying the cruel actuality of maternal mortality when she was 7. Etienne was taking part in close to her beloved grandmother, when a closely pregnant lady walked in direction of them alongside the road, carrying a suitcase. Etienne’s grandmother greeted the girl and wished her “a safe passage.” Etienne requested her grandmother why “safe passage”? Her grandmother replied, “Because many women who go to the hospital to deliver a baby never come back.” This made an enormous impression on Etienne and drove her to review drugs so she may assist enhance the chances for poor ladies. An bold and decided baby, she skipped a number of major grades and gained scholarships to attend medical college and for postgraduate research. She remained powerfully linked to her Dominican roots till her dying.