Institutional and Community Engagement

Community Engagement in Translational Research

Background

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recognizes that bold new approaches are needed to speed the translation of scientific discoveries into treatments and cures for citizens of the 21st century.  There are obstacles with the current approach to conducting clinical research and 'translating' that research from the 'bench' to patients' bedsides, and then broadly into communities for improvement of health.  To address these, the NIH awards funding to medical facilities/ schools for:

• Individual and institutional training and mentoring
• Disease-specific centers
• Clinical trial networks
• Improved informatics, and
• Overall training of generations of translational scientists

Principles

The Medical College of Wisconsin's model for community engagement in translational research is based on four principles:

1. Collaboration: bringing together basic science, clinical, population health researchers and community leaders to work together on translation of research
2. Education: educating communities about the benefits of research including clinical trials, and academics about community sensitivities and dissemination of information to lay audiences
3. Facilitation: provide meaningful vehicles of engagement for scientists, clinicians and their community partners to work together
4. Transformation: producing a shift from the traditional unidirectional approach of bench to bedside with no involvement of community to an engaged partner approach with bidirectional efforts.