The Cabinet Office announced today, the resignation of Mr. Johnley Ferguson as Senator and Vice-President of the Senate with effect from Monday, 14th February, 2011.

Mr. Ferguson, a former Family Island Administrator, has been appointed Consultant in the Department of Lands and Local Government, where he will assist in improving the coordination of Department strategies, particularly with respect to the handling of applications for Crown Land by Bahamians.

Mr. Ferguson will also assist in advancing plans for the introduction of Local Government in New Providence.

Dr. Duane Sands, FNM candidate in the recent by-election in Elizabeth has been appointed to succeed Mr. Ferguson in the Senate. Dr. Sands, a cardiothoracic and vascular surgeon, was educated at St. Anne’s High School in Nassau, Cheshire Academy in Connecticut and Tufts University in Massachusetts, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry.

After obtaining his Doctor of Medicine degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Maryland in 1986, and completing his residency in General Surgery and Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery at Wayne State University in Michigan in 1994, Dr. Sands returned home and began serving the Bahamian people as a consultant physician at the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH).

He served as Director of Accident and Emergency at PMH, and since 2007 has served as the Hospital’s Chief of Surgery. He also practices at Doctors Hospital and the Cardiothoracic and Vascular Institute of the Bahamas Ltd.

Dr. Sands, Chairman of The Bahamas Mortgage Corporation, is a former Chairman of the Bahamas Medical Council and Director of the Central Bank of the Bahamas. He earlier served as Director of the Public Hospitals Authority, Vice President of Medical Affairs and Member of the Board of Directors of Doctors Hospital and Director of Physicians Alliance Ltd.

Dr. Sands and his wife Sakina, have four children: Adrienne, Brandon, Nicholas and Mila.