BIO
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.
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Research Interests
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
Academic Education
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)
Professional Certificates
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
Work History
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
Software
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)
Awards & Grants
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