Rajiv Sarkar

My responsibilities include teaching and mentoring MPH and PhD students, conducting need-based trainings on various public health topics, engaging with the government and other public health organisations, conducting independent research and consultancy, and supporting the overall institutional development.

I was responsible providing epidemiological support for the late-phase and real-world observational studies. This included contribution to design, execution and reporting of epidemiological studies; writing/reviewing study protocols, statistical analysis plans, and interim and final study reports; supporting preparation of abstracts, manuscripts and/or conference presentations; and guiding clients and other stakeholders through the methodological design and analysis of observational studies.

As an independent contractor for the Wellcome Trust Research Laboratory, CMC, I was involved with the DeWorm3 project in India. Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), USA and coordinated by the Natural History Museum (NHM), UK, DeWorm3 is multi-country project to demonstrate the feasibility of eliminating soil transmitted helminth (STH) transmission in endemic communities using a biannual population-based mass drug administration (MDA) approach. My specific responsibilities included coordination with the UK and USA based central study teams on the design and on-site implementation of the project; explaining the study design and rationale to local and national stakeholders; assisting in identification of suitable study site(s) in India; and preparing and/or adapting project-related protocols, SOPs and IRB submissions.

The focus of this Early Career Fellowship (ECF) was to integrate robust epidemiological and molecular data to develop models of hookworm transmission in a “difficult-to-reach” tribal population in southern India, to identify the optimal mass drug administration (MDA) strategy for the control of hookworm infection. As part of this ECF, I spend 1 year as a visiting researcher at the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London (ICL).

This appointment was co-terminus with my Ph.D. My job responsibilities included day-to-day supervision of recruitment and follow-up of the study participants; setting up and maintaining the study databases, and supervising the data entry and management; coordinating between the field and laboratory teams to ensure timely collection and processing of the study specimens; performing statistical analysis, and assisting in the preparation of interim and final study reports and manuscripts.