Community Engagement and Outreach Core

University Of Puerto Rico Med Sciences, San Juan PR

Investigators

Abstract

The Community Engagement and Outreach (CEO) Core aims to enhance clinical and translational research by aligning research efforts with the population’s health needs and priorities. Over the past four years, CEO Core has effectively bridged the Alliance IDeA CTR-N and local groups, ensuring that research initiatives incorporate the people’s perspectives and healthcare needs. This strategy has enhanced our understanding of health challenges, yielding actionable research outcomes. The inaugural Community Health and Research Council (CHRC) engaged over 200 participants from 55 municipalities in PR, identifying 19 health needs—70% of which were addressed. Notably, the creation of Puerto Rico’s first Practice-Based Research Network (PBRN/GROW-PR) connected over 120 collaborators, facilitating the development of partnerships between researchers from the academia, clinicians, and local partners. The long-term goal of the CEO is to build research capacity through tailored programs, connecting early-career professionals with experienced researchers, and supporting the integration of healthcare providers and local stakeholders in the research process to achieve population-driven, meaningful, and impactful collaborative research innovations. Our approach has three specific aims. Aim 1 focuses on strengthening the people’s engagement and support novel research strategies to identify priorities and conduct meaningful research addressing health conditions prevalent in our population. This involves enhancing the CHRC role in decision-making, capacity-building education, and the establishment of Health Benefit Innovation Hubs to facilitate collaboration between researchers and local stakeholders. Aim 2 seeks to strengthen the PBRN infrastructure by supporting collaborations and promoting members’ participation. We will focus on engaging GROW-PR members in leadership positions, developing innovative training activities and creating opportunities to conduct collaborative research using real-world data through a Health Innovation Project, which will expand our collaborations with other IDeA States PBRNs. Aim 3 aims to improve the dissemination of research initiatives by implementing effective communication strategies, ensuring appropriate outreach, and engaging stakeholders to maximize health benefits. This includes co-developing a communication plan, hosting workshops, and creating accessible summaries of research initiatives to ensure the citizen’s feedback and connection. By pursuing these aims, the CEO will advance the mission of the Alliance IDeA CTR-N to conduct impactful, people-centered research that improves health outcomes for the population we serve.