Community Engagement/Outreach Core

Rush University Medical Center, Chicago IL

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

The overall goal of the Community Engagement and Outreach Core of the Rush Center on Disparities in HIV and Aging (Rush CEDHA) is to enhance minority research participation in original and innovative cutting-edge research leading to improvements in minority health and the elimination of health disparities in the area of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection and aging by providing education and outreach tailored to meet the needs of large numbers of racial and ethnic minorities. The ethnic diversity of metropolitan Chicago including, but not limited to, the presence of large African American communities and the large group of aging individuals at risk of or living with HIV has shaped the approach to this general goal for the Rush CEDHA. The Community Engagement and Outreach Core has the responsibility for providing and evaluating liaison services between the communities served by the Rush CEDHA and CEDHA researchers. Community Engagement and Outreach Core activities will continue to include: 1) networking with community leaders and minority HIV advocacy groups to nurture mutually beneficial long-term relationships; 2) giving first to meet the needs of minorities living with or at risk of HIV infection and the communities that sen/e them; 3) advocating for minority research participation; 4) giving back by disseminating Rush CEDHA research findings with participants, communities and the professionals serving those communities in order to build community capacity to address prevention, eariy detection, and early treatment of HIV, and 5) evaluating these activities in order to ensure research participation by individuals from health disparity populations in Rush CEDHA research and other HIV and aging special research initiatives bythe National Instiute on Minority Health and Health Disparity (NIMHD).