BIO

My name is Kern Rocke, born in the twin island republic of Trinidad and Tobago and I now currently reside in Barbados. I am a researcher in the Caribbean working at the George Alleyne Chronic Disease Research Centre (GA-CDRC) as a Research Associate. I am also an international consutant focusing on vaccine safety surveillance at the Pan American Health Organization. I studied Human Nutrition and Dietetics at a Bachelor's level and then moved on to a Masters of Epidemiology. Currently I am pursuing my terminal degree in Epidemiology with a focus on Spatial Epidemiology.

I worked as a researcher with Nutrition Research Group at the Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension in Trinidad from 2015-2017 working on a variety of projects centred around population health behaviours and nutritional status. During my time there, I also worked as a part-time lecturer for the BSc Human Nutrition and Dietetics programme teaching in areas of research methods, biostatistics, community nutrition, physiology and health and, nutrition and metabolism. From 2017-2019, I worked as a Statistical Consulant with the CARICOM Secreteriat in Guyana analysing data related to employee engagement. From 2019-present I am working in Barbados at the GA-CDRC on the interlinks between built environment, walkability, physical activity and metabolic health which links with my PhD work. Furthermore, at PAHO I work with countries from the English speaking Caribbean on further strengthening their national ESAVI (Events Supposedly Attributable to Vaccination or Immunization) surveillance. 

Walkability; Built Environment; Physical Activity; Population Health; Cancer Incidence and Mortality; Ecological Analysis, NCD Risk Factors, Vaccine Safety Surveillance

• Geospatial Epidemiology (Application and Methods) 

• Cancer Epidemiology 

• Built Environment 

• Physical Activity (Epidemiology and Methods of Assessment) 

• Climate Change in SIDS 

• Vaccine Safety Surveillance

Education:

2019-Present                            The University of the West Indies (Barbados)        Cave Hill

PhD Epidemiology

2017-2018                                The University of the West Indies (Trinidad)         St. Augustine

PhD Human Ecology (transferred)

2013-2014                                The University of the West Indies (Jamaica)          Mona

MSc. Epidemiology

2010-2013                                The University of the West Indies (Trinidad)         St. Augustine

BSc. (Hons) Human Nutrition and Dietetics (Special Option)

DHIS2:

Introduction to DHIS2 -----> View certificate

Aggregate Data Capture and Validation Fundamentals -----> View certificate

Planning and Budgeting DHIS2 Implementations -----> View certificate

Aggregate Data Analysis Fundamentals -----> View certificate

HL7 FHIR

FHIR Fundamentals ---------> View certificate

World Health Organization (WHO)

Vaccine Safety Basics  ---------> View certificate

Uppsala Monitoring Centre (UMC)

Statistical Reasoning and algorithms in signal detection  ---------> View certificate

July 2023 - Present

Consultant Data Manager - The Barbados National Registry, Barbados

August 2021 - Present

International Consultant (Vaccine Safety Surveillance) - Pan American Health Organization, USA

July, 2019 – Present

Researcher/Analyst - The George Alleyne Chronic Disease Research Centre, Barbados

January 2017- June 2019

Research & Statistical Consultant - CARICOM Secretariat, Guyana 

February 2015 – February 2017 

Researcher- The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad 

September 2014 – May 2017 

Part-time Lecturer- The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad  

June 2012- August 2012 

Health Education Intern- Ministry of Health- Heath Education Division, Trinidad  

June 2011- September 2011 

Undergraduate Trainee - Ministry of Legal Affairs, Trinidad  

Statistical Analysis and Data Management

STATA (Advance level); SPSS (Intermediary Level); R (Intermediary Level); Python (Basic level); Azure Data Studio (Basic level)

Spatial Management and Analysis

ArcGIS (Advance level); QGIS (Intermediary level); PostGRES (Intermediary level)

Data Collection

RedCAP (Intermediary Level); Survey123 (Advance Level); EpiCollect (Advance level); EpiINfo 7 (Advance level); Epi Data (Intermediary Level); QuestionPro (Intermediary Level)

Project Management

Microsoft Office Suite (Advance Level); Open Project (Intermediary Level); Project Libre (Intermediary Level)

Reference & Systematic Review Managment

EndNote (Advance Level); Zotero (Advance Level); Reference Manager (Intermediary Level); RevMan (Intermediary Level); Archie (Beginner Level)

360 Imagery

Pano2VR (Advance level); Google Data Studio (Advance level) 

Health Information Systems

DHIS2 (Intermediary Level); Postman (Beginner Level)

International Development Research Centre (IDRC); The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus; $597400 CAD; PI: Abigail Harrison; Karen Carpenter; Caryl James; Kern Rocke; Georgiana Gordon-Strachan; Susan Chang; Susan Walker; Minerva Thame; "Impact of a psychoeducational intervention on gender norms and mental health outcomes in Jamaican adolescents"

National Heart, Lung & Blood Institute (NHLBI); Diversity Research Supplement; Paedatric Eastern Caribbean Health Outcomes Research Network (PECHORN); $38000 USD, PI: Kern Rocke; Marcella Nunez-Smith; End date: 30/06/2022

UWI Graduate Studies and Research Campus Research Awards (Student); The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Barbados; $4540 USD, PI: Kern Rocke, Ian Hambleton and Christina Howitt; End date: 01/09/2021; "Virtual Assessment of the walking environment in ECHORN neighbourhoods" 

WELCOME Trust Travel Grant: CAHIR at 20 Research Symposium, Kingston Jamaica.  September 2019

The Inter-American Institute For Cooperation On Agriculture (IICA) Award Prize. Awarded for the best final year project demonstrating excellence in Human Nutrition & Dietetics Year III (2012/2013). 

Dean’s Honor Roll- The University of the West Indies (UWI), St. Augustine Campus (2012/2013). 

Awarded for achieving a semester GPA of 4.15