Community Engagement ane Outreach (CEO)

Community Engagement and Outreach Core Project Summary High-quality clinical and translational research (CTR) strengthens health by moving scientific innovations from pre-clinical to clinical settings and, ultimately, into solutions that address priority health concerns across the nation. The Community Engagement and Outreach (CEO) Core supports this mission by facilitating collaboration among researchers, clinicians, and community stakeholders to address regional health needs. This requires active engagement with healthcare and community systems that will ultimately adopt, implement, and sustain new research- developed innovations. The CEO Core has developed a range of engagement, team science, and outreach resources to ensure that CTR is relevant and responsive to the health priorities of communities across our region, including rural areas. Our aims include: 1. Identifying and establishing regional health priorities while increasing capacity to conduct community-engaged CTR. 2. Supporting the production of high-quality, regionally relevant CTR that is informed by community input. 3. Promoting awareness of network research findings, project opportunities, and available resources among member institutions, community partners, Practice-based Research Network (PBRN) sites, and other stakeholders. Innovative features of the CEO Core include a Summer Institute for Community-Engaged CTR designed for both researchers and community partners, and a Community-Engaged Research Incubator that supports the development of large-scale CTR projects. CEO established a Community Advisory Board (CAB) composed of representatives from across the region, including community organizations, healthcare systems, and public health entities. CAB activities include identifying and prioritizing health concerns, contributing to review of Pilot and Scholar applications, and assisting in the dissemination of research findings to communities. To keep members informed, CEO provides access to network activities and resources through a Community Conversations blog, an events calendar, presentations, seminars, and Science Cafés. The Core also maintains a Clinical Trials portal, a Community Studies portal, a Community Collaborators Registry, and a CITI Training resource page. CEO offers seminars and workshops in partnership with the Professional Development Core and other scientific Cores to provide tools and training that strengthen community-engagement practices and help researchers align projects with identified community priorities. Recorded materials are made available online. The CEO Core also supports a regional PBRN that integrates clinical practice with evidence- informed research. Finally, CEO offers services and consultations to help CTR investigators connect with community organizations and, in turn, provides opportunities for community partners to engage directly with researchers in addressing regional health challenges.