# The Community Engagement Core of SDSU HealthLINK Center for Transdisciplinary Health Disparities Research

> **NIH NIH U54** · SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $353,779

## Abstract

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT CORE – Project Summary
Health disparities in the US are more pronounced among racially/ethnically diverse, sexual and gender
minority (SGM), and lower-income populations. Academic-community partnerships are critical to research
focused on addressing these health disparities. When academics and partners collaborate to conduct such
research, the collaboration can result in more sizable and longer lasting changes. However, research is lacking
on effective models for partnerships that simultaneously promote reciprocal capacity building and knowledge
transfer among academics and partners, including those that serve the same minority and health disparate
populations (e.g., Hispanic/Latino, SGM, and lower-income populations). Thus, a driving force for the proposed
Center and Community Engagement Core (CEC) is to solidify a bidirectional learning process, one that seeks
to reduce the research-to-practice and research-to-policy gaps that exist, and improve the collective impact of
our work. We seek this with clinical and population-focused organizations that serve underserved populations
who are at greatest risk of poor health outcomes. Specifically, the CEC will partner with two FQHCs, one
located in an urban environment (Family Health Centers of San Diego in San Diego County) and one located in
a rural environment (Clinicas de Salud del Pueblo, Inc. in Imperial County, California), as well as a large county
health and human service agency that serves over three million residents in San Diego County (County of San
Diego Health and Human Services Agency). We seek to promote capacity building and knowledge transfer by
and between the Center investigators and CEC partners through three Workgroups and a CEC Committee: (1)
the Research Workgroup will involve a collaboration between the Center CEC investigators, CEC partners, and
other interested parties on processes for meaningful use of Electronic Health Record (EHR) data and the
development of a Patient Registry for Health Research to address recruitment challenges with underserved
and hard-to-reach populations; (2) the Research Translation Workgroup will identify effective methods for
dissemination of Center research findings and products from transdisciplinary efforts. The dissemination
activities are designed to inform practices and policies to promote the diffusion, adoption, and sustainability of
effective evidence-based interventions and build the capacity of community residents to use these data to
effect changes in their communities; and, (3) the Clinical Practice Workgroup, in collaboration with the AC
Evaluation team, will assess the needs of clinical partners to develop a `Practice and Provider Toolkit'. Finally,
the CEC will collaborate with other Cores and Research Projects to maximize what is achievable. For example,
CEC Committee members and partners will be encouraged to help design trainings for academics and
partners on how to establish successful partnerships. Collabo...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10167776
- **Project number:** 5U54MD012397-04
- **Recipient organization:** SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Tracy Lee Finlayson
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $353,779
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-11 → 2023-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10167776

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10167776, The Community Engagement Core of SDSU HealthLINK Center for Transdisciplinary Health Disparities Research (5U54MD012397-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10167776. Licensed CC0.

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