Community Engagement

The goal of the Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research’s (MICHR) Community Engagement Program is to involve the community’s expertise and knowledge in improving the quality of UM clinical health research and producing outcomes that measurably benefit the health of the local community. We aim to support research that is more relevant to people’s needs and concerns, more reliable, and more likely to be used.

Building capacity among our community leaders to ensure that community-based organizations can be full partners in the research enterprise is an essential step in addressing public trust and participation in research. Community-based approaches have become increasingly respected ways to conduct health research programs, both for observational studies and for intervention studies. Involving the community in the design and conduct of programs helps ensure that research participants understand intervention content and that research questions are reliable and valid. Researchers also often find that sharing research findings with members of the target population further illuminates those findings and also improves community partnerships.

MICHR’s Community Engagement Program will strengthen Community-University research partnerships by serving as a conduit to increase bi-directional communication, thus linking community priorities with appropriate study designs.

Aims

  • Identify community partners & build fair, long-lasting relationships
  • Develop training programs that include cooperative, bi-directional participation by community partners and researchers
  • Establish a model of shared decision-making power & procedures for working together
  • Find ways to link bench scientists and clinicians with community partners to collaborate on research
  • Share what we learn with other scientists and the public

Services

Training:
MICHR is currently working to develop training opportunities via a co-learning process that emphasizes the essential role of the community in the clinical research process. Training will be available to faculty, staff, and community members.

Engage:
To answer the need for a central electronic location for clinical research at the University of Michigan, the Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research (MICHR) developed Engage. The Engage website began as a tool to help volunteers interested in participating in clinical research match to investigators and study teams in need of recruiting volunteers, and was designed to provide a single gateway for clinical research. The site consists of several pieces - study database, information on clinical research for the public, multicultural research pages, a public search tool, information for study teams, as well as a HIPAA and IRB Compliant Registry. The Engage Registry was released in January 2007, and consists of a database that allows patients or community members to sign up for a single study or the general registry. Engage Community Information & Education Sections contain a mini-tutorial about clinical research, as well as pages focused on diversity and multicultural research participation, and a health glossary containing links to specific health conditions or preventative health information.

Consultation:
The UM Community Engagement Program is a university and community resource where agencies, organizations, residents, and faculty can receive training and consultation to better understand health research, obtain assistance in research design, better define their concerns, and be connected with partners to conduct effective community-university research projects. Community and faculty members are invited to contact the Community Engagement Program for guidance and assistance in developing health research projects by emailing mollycd@umich.edu or calling (734) 998-7309.

Funding Opportunities for Community-University Research Partnerships:
The purpose of the MICHR Community-University Research Partnerships program is to support one-year pilot and/or feasibility research studies of innovative interventions and/or techniques designed to improve/benefit the health of the community. Through this mechanism, we aim to 1) build the capacity of communities and the University of Michigan to engage in authentic research partnerships, 2) combine the knowledge, wisdom and experience in communities and at UM to make a positive impact on local health challenges, and 3) Enhance networks and infrastructure that will promote community research that not only takes place in the community, but involves the community.

Key Community Engagement Team members

Research Liaison: The Research Liaison is available to ensure that investigators address key community issues, and also provides consultation, assistance and monitoring to research investigators. The Liaison maintains a strong working relationship with the IRB in order to provide monitoring and guidance to investigators, and maintains the ability to match researchers with community groups and their needs.

Community Advocates: Community Advocates are currently available in the Detroit, Flint, and Ypsilanti communities, where they engage in regular meetings with community leaders and social service agencies, and are able to provide deeper insight into the barriers that separate the scientific community from the public. Collaboratively with the Research Liaison, the Community Advocates will work to enhance community-university partnerships to move health research forward that is responsive to community needs.

Community Engagement Coordinating Council: The CECC meets monthly to provide an ongoing forum for researchers and community members to discuss health research projects priorities. The council provides a forum for community-initiated research issues, which are then channeled to appropriate University of Michigan researchers who can work with the community to investigate the respective problem. The Council also works to mobilize CTSA resources that will best facilitate Community-University partnerships.

Coordinating Council Members

Partnerships

Minority Health Research Program
Flint, Prevention Research Center
Detroit, Urban Research Center
Women's Health Program
Healthy Asian Americans Project
Ann Arbor District Library
Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living
Faith Access to Community Economic Development
South Eastern Michigan Health Association

Contact

Molly White
Community Engagement Program Manager
Email: mollycd@med.umich.edu
Phone: 734-998-7309

Carolyn Sampselle, PhD, RNC, FAAN
Community Engagement Program Director
Professor, School of Nursing
Email: csampsll@umich.edu
Website: http://www.nursing.umich.edu/faculty/sampselle_carolyn.html

Marc Zimmerman, PhD
Community Engagement Program Co-Director
Professor, Health Behavior Health Education
School of Public Health
Director, Prevention Research Center of Michigan
Email: marcz@umich.edu
Website: http://www.sph.umich.edu/iscr/faculty/profile.cfm?uniqname=marcz

David Gordon, MD
Associate Dean for Diversity & Career Development, School of Medicine
Professor, Pathology Department
Email: dgordon@med.umich.edu
Website: http://www.med.umich.edu/Medschool/dean/deans/gordon.htm

Robert Anderson, EdD
Professor, Department of Medical Education
Email: boba@med.umich.edu
http://www.med.umich.edu/meded/about/profiles/Anderson.htm

Nichole Washington
Administrative Support
Email: washingn@med.umich.edu

For more information about MICHR please call (734) 998-7474 or email um-michr@umich.edu