A non-profit organisation, RayAsta Foundation, handed over science materials and laboratory experiments to the St. Marys Primary School in memory of the late Raymond Astaphan.  

Raymond was a young medical student, who was eighteen months away from graduating. He had completed his first degree in Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Toronto in 2012. Unfortunately, his life was taken in a vehicular collision in Miami on May 28th, 2015 at a time when he was finalising electives to begin his rotation at St. John’s Hospital in New York after Miami.  

The Foundation was founded in 2021 in memory of Raymond Jonathon Astaphan, the third son of Jennifer L. and Reginald A. Astaphan. 

With a strong desire to leave a legacy in Raymond’s name, his mother started the RayAsta Foundation. A foundation, registered in Dominica which focuses on a specific area of neuroscience and neurology, by providing state of the art, high-quality ancillary services for Stroke patients in Dominica and in the Region. 

The Foundation focuses on the subject of Science in schools previously attended by Raymond and offers support through care, rehabilitation services, training, and education for persons in the community affected by Stroke by delivering hope through compassion, transparency, and generosity.  

 “In his memory we have set up this foundation it’s primarily focused on persons with stroke but what we hope to encourage in the schools that he attended both SMP and SMA is to encourage your interest in science and I hope several of you will go on to become either young scientist because he did neuroscience and he wanted to be a neurologist,” Jennifer Astaphan said at the ceremony.  

She hopes students will be motivated that this contribution will begin to stimulate their interest in science.  

A dedication of the St. Mary’s Primary School’s Science Lab was also made at the ceremony.  

The function took place on Monday, January 9, 2023 at St. Mary’s Primary School (SMP)