Ms Tracia-gay Kennedy
About me
Tracia-Gay is currently a Lecturer in the Pharmacology & Pharmacy Section at the Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona Campus, Jamaica. She has over twenty (20) years of experience as a Registered Pharmacist, working in hospital, community, institutional pharmacies as well as academia. She is the Registered Pharmacy Owner of Triple J Pharmacy in St. Ann, Jamaica and the first Nuclear Pharmacist in the English-speaking Caribbean, having worked at the University Hospital of the West Indies from 2019-2024.
Tracia-gay has earned numerous awards from professional organizations. These include:
1. The Caribbean Distinguished Pharmacy Researcher Award by the Caribbean Association of Pharmacists in 2017 and runner-up in 2021.
2. The Jamaican Distinguished Pharmacy Researcher Award by the Pharmaceutical Society of Jamaica in 2016 & 2018.
3. Jamaican Pharmacist of the Year by the Pharmaceutical Society of Jamaica in 2018.
She is currently finalizing her PhD in Pharmacology at the UWI, Mona Campus and most recently was awarded Best Student Poster Presentation Award by the Ministry of Health & Wellness at their 15th Annual Research Conference in November 2024.
In her spare time, Tracia-gay enjoys a good workout, playing lawn tennis, travelling overseas and spending time with the people she loves.
As a member of the UWI, Mona team for the past seventeen years, I have displayed professional and academic growth and have established myself as a trend-setter in my profession of choice: Pharmacy. I joined the University Health Centre team in 2008, and subsequently transitioned to the Faculty of Medical Sciences in 2015 where I have been executing my role in the shaping of future Pharmacists as a Faculty member of the Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) programme.
• As the first Nuclear Pharmacist in the country, I worked alongside key stakeholders from 2019-2022 to implement the first Nuclear Pharmacy in Jamaica. This specialty pharmacy is located at the University Hospital of the West Indies which currently houses the only Nuclear Medicine facility in the public sector in Jamaica. I then trained other pharmacists and preceptored 5th Year PharmD students since 2022 when the department opened its doors to the public.
• I was Jamaica’s representative on the International Atomic Energy Agency’s project for Latin America and the Caribbean, RLA6084: Strengthening Human Resource Development in Different Areas of Radiopharmacy. This project was geared at developing curricula for post-graduate courses in Radiopharmacy in our Region.
• I am the only International Atomic Energy Agency certified Trainer-of -Trainers in Radiopharmacy in the English-speaking Caribbean. As a result, I am capable of providing effective education delivery covering E-learning systems, through representative lessons on SPECT, PET and Therapeutic radioisotope production and radiopharmaceuticals.
• As a published researcher of six (6) scholarly articles in academic journals, I currently lead three (3) research teams out of the UHWI Nuclear Medicine Division as we aim to increase publication output based on data from the 3 years of operations. The areas of focus include pharmacovigilance, public health and nuclear medicine optimization and integration with medical physics.
