West Virginia Clinical Translational Science Institute Links Scientists and Teachers Sara Hanks, Ann Chester, Summer Kuhn

What is HSTA?

Infrastructure Community Based Organization 159 Volunteer Board Members th -12 th grade students in 48 high schools After school club setting Complete annual research projects Successful completion of the program results in tuition waiver to WV state schools 67 teachers 14 Field Site Coordinators 4 Community Research Associates (Knowledge Brokers)

Community Research Associates (CRAs) Background in high school education Understanding of experimental design and statistics Ability to relate scientific information to high school teachers and students Work and reside in communities across the state Ability to help scientists relate to HSTA and community

What do CRAs do? Build partnerships between HSTA and researchers to promote community based research Work with teachers and students on implementing research protocols Act as liaison between community and research Open doors for scientists for data collection in hard to reach populations Give communities a voice in the research process Disseminate and translate knowledge between researchers and HSTA communities and vice versa Facilitate IRB process

CRAs and the WV Clinical Translational Science Institute CRAs train community members on CBPR practices CRAs work with research teams to adopt community engaged strategies HSTA students teach and train their family members on CBPR CRAs guide research teams on disseminating and explaining research findings to the community HSTA students present annual research projects at Symposia yearly CRAs work with research teams to develop appropriate community engaged research protocols and IRBs HSTA students and CRAs recruit participants for CTSI projects Student research projects are designed with community needs in mind CRAs work with students and teachers in 26 communities across the state on CBPR projects HSTA projects network researchers from national & statewide partner institutions Connect investigators, clinics and communities Study design and implementation Technical assistance and training Dissemination CTSI Community Engagement & Outreach Core Services Delivered by HSTA Community Research Associates (CRAs)

Why do University researchers need community programs like HSTA?

NCATS: Science of Community Engaged Research: Future Directions – Chris Austin MD, Director of NCATS Diagnostics and therapeutics Behavioral interventions Develop, demonstrate, and disseminate innovative methods and technologies

NCATS and Community Engagement Across the Translational Spectrum Observation to point of care intervention (T1) Identify most important research questions Recruit best researchers Build partnerships Complementary funding for research studies Bridge gap between fundamental science researchers and patients Clinical and translational research (T2-T3) Help develop relevant and practicable research protocols Foster community participation and recruiting research participants for clinical trials Increase collaboration and communication within the CTSA networks and between key stakeholders (e.g., academia, public/private entities, and communities) Community health and population research (T4) Adoption of demonstrably useful interventions (i.e. dissemination) Adherence Interface with research partners including PCORI, Collaboratory, AHRQ, etc.

A New Work Force for Community Based Participatory Research Adolescents can be vectors for change in their communities Students are able to conduct CBPR in the most inaccessible communities The HSTA families offer new insights into public health issues The infrastructure is in place and unique to West Virginia

Best Practices for Working with Community, Scientists, Teachers and Students

True Community Engagement Communities’ agenda drives the research Communities and their leaders are in a leadership role Communities are involved in all parts of research plan

Mentoring Constant mentoring occurs at 4 levels: Academic Researcher Community members Teachers Students Two-Way Communication Respect

Student Driven HSTA students as vectors for change Communities Teachers Research ideas Community voice

Questions/ Comments

Research reported in this presentation was supported by the National Institute Of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number U54GM The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.