Award from The Duke Endowment Expands CTSI’s Work to Center Equity

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Duke University School of Medicine has received an award of $2.5 million to continue and extend the work of Duke Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) to center equity in clinical and translational science by expanding a workforce development program and enhancing an online community engagement tool.

The award will allow CTSI to expand the outreach of the Clinical Research Equity Scholars Program, a collaboration with Durham Technical Community College. CTSI’s Workforce Development Pillar manages the initiative, and students have already demonstrated the program's value.

Through the award, the program will vastly increase the number of equity scholars per year. Duke and North Carolina Central University subject matter experts will enhance the curriculum content, and program leaders will work with allied health, nursing, and clinical research training programs that have high rates of participation from students in underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, as well as rural areas.

The Endowment’s grant also will support further development of the Social, Environmental, and Equity Drivers (SEED) of Health Atlas. A publicly available online platform and tool for researchers and community members to learn more about social drivers of health, the SEED Health Atlas provides access to local data and promotes research in health disparities and equity.

Working with community partners through health-equity learning and action networks, CTSI will use the SEED Health Atlas to identify specific health inequities prevalent in the community and co-develop new interventions to address them. With an interactive web dashboard, the atlas will allow CTSI to aggregate, summarize, and communicate deidentified electronic health record data from Duke Health and Lincoln Community Health Center across all neighborhoods in Durham County.

Substantial work remains to address health inequities that persist throughout North Carolina and nationwide, and as a part of its mission, CTSI must address the complex and layered influences on health by centering equity and community engagement across the research enterprise.

Bolstered by The Endowment’s grant support, CTSI will work to increase diversity and inclusiveness throughout the entire clinical science and translation workforce. Critical areas of need are robust pathways and training opportunities to fill and support positions such as clinical research coordinators, project managers and coordinators, and outreach and engagement roles within the research enterprise.

CTSI also will focus on developing and democratizing tools and resources to equitably engage patients, clinicians, policy makers, private sector, industry, and community members and organizations in our work. Data, tools, and resources must be easily shared, understood, and used by community stakeholders who are particularly well-positioned to intervene on health inequities.

Three CTSI centers will collaborate on this initiative: the Center for Pathway Programs (CPP), the Center for Equity in Research (CER), and the Center for Community and Population Health Improvement (CCPHI). Multiple cores and groups across CTSI will contribute, including the Duke-NCCU Bridge Office.

Leadership for this project includes Michelle J. Lyn, MBA, MHA, co-director for the CTSI Learning Health Communities Pillar; Steve Grambow, PhD, co-director for the CTSI Workforce Development Pillar; and Nrupen A. Bhavsar, PhD, FAHA, director for the CTSI Social Informatics Program.


About The Duke Endowment

Based in Charlotte and established in 1924 by industrialist and philanthropist James B. Duke, The Duke Endowment is a private foundation that strengthens communities in North Carolina and South Carolina by nurturing children, promoting health, educating minds, and enriching spirits. Since its founding, it has distributed $4.5 billion in grants. The Endowment shares a name with Duke University and Duke Energy, but all are separate organizations.