Proceedings of the 2017 Advancing the Science of Community Engaged Research (CEnR) Conference

Background To address an urgent need to advance the field of community engaged research, faculty at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Meharry Medical College organized the national meeting "Advancing the Science of Community Engaged Research (CEnR): Innovative & Effective Methods of Stakeholder Engagement in Translational Research, Washington, DC September 14-15, 2017 (See Additional file 1). These meetings brought together a diverse group of stakeholders to share community engaged research evidence and practical knowledge for implementing new and enhancing existing research programs. The conference series’ goals were: 1) to expand the scientific basis for the community engaged research field by convening researchers, community partners, patient advocacy organizations, and others to share innovative methods and strategies; 2) to engage community representatives and patient advocates in the development of new approaches in community engaged research by meaningfully involving them in the planning, as speakers and presenters, and as conference participants; and 3) to catalyze innovative community engaged research using interactive meeting methods that promote learning, support collective problem solving, and encourage new conceptual frameworks. These conferences have advanced community engagement across the translational research spectrum in biomedical research. For the 2017 meeting, described here, the overarching theme was Innovative and Effective Methods of Stakeholder Engagement in Translational Research. Methods The forum was attended by over 210 participants. This conference used novel approaches to fulfill its objectives of participant diversity, meaningful stakeholder engagement, and eliciting varied distinct perspectives to advance the science of community engaged research. Innovative strategies for the conference included: Think Tanks focused on emerging community engaged research topics or topics in need of urgent attention. These dynamic group sessions provided for freely sharing ideas with the purpose of creating change and facilitating new research collaborations. Learning Labs offered unique opportunities to gain practical knowledge regarding innovative methods in community engaged research. Learning Labs also facilitated the wide broadcast of locally successful engagement methods with the goal of speeding the uptake and implementation of community engaged methods. Travel Scholarships were provided for twenty community and patient representatives to participate in the conference. The lack of travel funds was a significant barrier to stakeholder participation in prior community engaged research meetings. The scholarships expanded the role of community and patient representatives in setting research priorities and promoting methods development. Meaningful Engagement meant that community members and patients participated in decision making on all aspects of the conference planning, including the selection of themes, topics, and speakers, and were fully integrated into the conference as speakers, panelists, and moderators. Conclusions Community and stakeholder engagement can directly impact research by enhancing clinical trial design, increasing relevance, and increasing recruitment, accrual and retention (Staley K.: Exploring Impact: Public 53 Involvement in NHS, Public Health and Social Care Research – INVOLVE.; 2009, Johnson et al Clin Transl Sci 8:388-54 390, 2015, Joosten et al Acad Med 90:1646-1650, 2015). The 2017 Advancing the Science of Community Engaged Research meeting, Innovative and Effective Methods of Stakeholder Engagement in Translational Research facilitated meaningful engagement of diverse stakeholder groups including racial and ethnic minorities, community and patient representatives, and junior investigators. Of 210 attendees, 72 completed the evaluation, and, of those, 36% self-affiliated as community members, and 21% as patient/caregiver advocacy, faith-based, or tribal organization members. This conference 1) represented a step toward expanding the scientific basis for the community engaged research (CEnR) field; 2) catalyzed innovative community engaged research; and 3) enhanced the reach and impact of the scientific developments emerging from pioneering work in community engagement. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12919-019-0164-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Think Tanks are focused on emerging community engaged research topics. These interactive group sessions are intended to stimulate dialogue, generate new perspectives and facilitate discussions that transcend disciplinary and academic/community boundaries.

Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable, MD
Pérez-Stable is Director of the National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, which seeks to advance the science of minority health and health disparities research through research, training, research capacity development, public education and information dissemination.

Al Richmond, MSW
Richmond has over 25 years of experience in a career that has uniquely blended social work and public health to address racial and ethnic health disparities. As a founding member and past chair of the Community Based Public Health Caucus and the National Community Based Organization Network -both affiliated with the American Public Health Association (APHA) -he helped to foster effective partnerships focused on community-identified health concerns and to increase the number of community leaders actively involved in APHA.

Melvin Thompson, MBA
Thompson is Executive Director of the Endeleo Institute, a public charity focused on creating a culture of health in the Washington Heights community in Chicago, IL, specifically along the West 95th Street Corridor.

Jonathan N. Tobin, PhD
Tobin is President/CEO of Clinical Directors Network, Inc., a NYCbased practice-based research network dedicated to improving clinical outcomes for low income and medically underserved communities by creating community-academic partnerships around research, education/training and service. Tobin, a cardiovascular epidemiologist, is the Co-Director for Community-Engaged Research for the Center for Clinical and Translational Science and Adjunct Professor in the Allen and Frances Adler Laboratory of Blood and Vascular Biology at The Rockefeller University and also holds the rank of Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University/Montefiore Medical Center.

Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola, MD, PhD
Aguilar-Gaxiola is an internationally renowned expert on mental health in ethnic populations. As on-site principal investigator of the Mexican American Prevalence and Services Survey -the largest mental health study conducted in the United States on Mexican Americans -he identified the most prevalent mental health disorders in the Mexican-origin population in California's central valley; showed that the rate of disorders increases the longer the individual resides in the United States; and demonstrated that children of immigrants have even greater rates of mental disorders.

Olveen Carrasquillo, MD, MPH
Carrasquillo is Chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine and oversees a clinical, teaching and research enterprise of 40 full-time faculty, including three private clinical practices and an additional ambulatory hospital-based clinic at Jackson Memorial Hospital.

Courtney Clyatt, MA, MPH
Clyatt is a Program Officer for Engagement at the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). She comes to PCORI with more than 10 years of experience in public health and project management.

Chanita Hughes-Halbert, PhD
Hughes-Halbert research interests include sociocultural and psychological factors related to cancer prevention and control behaviors in African Americans, and also developing interventions to account for social and cultural context and building community partnerships through research.

Usha Menon, PhD, RN, FAAN
Menon is Professor and Associate Dean for Research and Global Advances at the University of Arizona (UA) College of Nursing in Tuscon, AZ, and a member of the UA Cancer Center. At UA, she leads patient engagement for the recently awarded NIH Precision Medicine Initiative Cohort Enrollment Center grant.

Lloyd Michener, MD
Michener is a Professor of Community and Family Medicine at Duke University School of Medicine. He founded the university's training programs in nutrition and prevention, helps coordinate the institutional chronic disease programs and is a founding member of the Masters in Clinical Leadership Program, a program created jointly by the Schools of Medicine, Nursing, Business, Law and the Institute of Public Policy.

Charles P. Mouton, MD, MS
Mouton is a Professor of Family Medicine and the Vice Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of Texas Medical Branch. His research experience and interests are in health promotion and disease prevention in minority populations and the elderly, late-life domestic violence, health services research, particularly community engaged and practice-based research in underserved communities and quality end-of-life care.

Jill Evans Stanford University
Learning Objectives: 1) Discuss the barriers and facilitators of developing and implementing precision health research in diverse racial/ethnic communities. 2) Identify best practices for developing community-university partnerships for precision health research.
3) Understand how to develop and implement research to engage diverse communities in precision health research. 4) Identify best practices for working with researchers from diverse disciplines to incorporate community engagement in their research. 5) Become familiar with existing resources for increasing communities' capacity for engaging in precision health research. 6) Discuss diverse communities' understanding and perception of precision health research and related best practices for implementation of precision health research.

Implementing a Community / Patient Scientist Academy to Engage Underrepresented Populations in Research
Presenters:

Anna Davis Translational Research Institute University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Learning Objectives: 1) List the two main objectives of the community/ patient scientist academy.
2) Articulate at least three key concepts covered in the academy.
3) Describe at least two interactive exercises used to engage participants in the academy.

Sharing Research Results with Those Who Need Them: Engaging with Community Partners to Plan Effective Disseminations
Presenters:

Vanessa Ramirez-Zohfeld Northwestern University
Learning Objectives: 1) Learn about a variety of methods for working with community partners to plan and prepare for effective dissemination of study results to end-users. 2) Generate ideas for a dissemination plan for a research case study 3) Identify challenges for getting study results to end-users and share potential solutions and lessons learned.

Community Health Workers and Advocates as Stakeholders in Research: Mobilization and Engagement
Presenters: 2) Develop a plan for raising awareness and engaging a particular segment or underrepresented population in research.

Best Practice Strategies for Engaging Community Stakeholders and Patients as Partners in Research
Presenters:

Velma McBride Murry Vanderbilt University Medical Center, CERC
Overall Learning Objective: Participants will be able to identify effective strategies for engaging community stakeholders and patients as partners in research with an emphasis on expectations for challenges and strengths.

Learning Labs II (continued)
Learning Labs II 18 The Forgotten Stakeholder: Partnering with University Administrators to Create Compensation and Recognition Mechanisms that Support Efficiency, Fairness and Sustainability in Community Engagement Presenters:

University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Learning Objectives: 1) Define efficiency, fairness and sustainability in CEnR stakeholder engagement from the perspectives of: a) health providing/seeking communities; b) academic researchers; c) research grant administrators; and c) university administrators. 2) Discuss categories of university mechanisms for recognition and compensation of non-employee stakeholders in health research, as well as other nonfinancial compensation benefits for stakeholders. 3) Develop strategic plans to build and strengthen efficiency, fairness and sustainability in stakeholder engagement initiatives that utilize one or more of the university mechanisms for recognition and compensation of non-employee stakeholders in health research.

Development, Implementation and Evaluation of a Community Engaged Board: Best Practices for Strategies for Maximizing Success
Presenters:

Alicia Matthews
University of Illinois at Chicago

Amparo Castillo
University of Illinois at Chicago

University of Illinois at Chicago
Learning Objectives: 1) Describe the role of community engagement advisory boards in clinical and translational research.
2) Describe five contributions of community engaged advisory boards to improving research outcomes.
3) Discuss best practices in the formation and development of community engaged advisory boards. 4) Identify strategies for building skills and capacity among community engaged advisory board members. 5) Develop methods for evaluating the contributions of community engaged advisory boards to research teams.

CME Credits
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine designates this live activity for a maximum of 9.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Meharry Medical College
Meharry Medical College is one of the nation's oldest and largest historically black academic health science centers dedicated to educating physicians, dentists, researchers and health policy experts. It includes a medical school, dental school and a graduate school; and is home to the Robert Wood Johnson Center for Health Policy at Meharry. The college is also a leading producer of African Americans with PhDs in biomedical sciences. In addition to providing quality professional health care education, exemplary patient care, and compassionate community outreach, Meharry Medical College produces the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, a public health journal.

Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance
Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance, founded in 1999, bridges the institutions of Meharry Medical College and Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Its mission is to enrich learning and advance clinical research in three primary areas-community engagement, interprofessional education and research-by developing and supporting mutually beneficial partnerships between Meharry Medical College, Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the communities they serve. Through community engagement, the Alliance serves a large community of stakeholders including surrounding universities and colleges, community organizations, faith-based outlets and community health centers. Its interprofessional education enhances students' interdisciplinary understanding and improves patient outcomes through integrated care. The research conducted provides access to experienced grant writers and materials supporting the grant application process and facilitates grant-writing workshops.

ADA Compliance
Building 655K was designed and constructed in compliance with the current Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements.
The Accessibility Codes are: 28 CFR Part 36, ADA Standards Title 12A DCMR Construction Code Supplement, 2008 Edition

Breastfeeding Rooms
A room for breastfeeding mothers is located on the third floor, near LC-350.

Poster sessions and reception sponsored by the Association of American Medical Colleges
Founded in 1876 and based in Washington, D.C., the Association of American Medical Colleges is a not-for-profit association dedicated to transforming health care through innovative medical education, cutting-edge patient care, and groundbreaking medical research. Its members comprise all 147 accredited U.S. and 17 accredited Canadian medical schools; nearly 400 major teaching hospitals and health systems, including 51 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers; and more than 80 academic societies. Through these institutions and organizations, the AAMC serves the leaders of America's medical schools and teaching hospitals and their nearly 167,000 full-time faculty members, 88,000 medical students, and 124,000 resident physicians. Additional information about the AAMC and its member medical schools and teaching hospitals is available at www.aamc.org.