# Rural Health Research and Delivery Core

> **NIH NIH U54** · MAINEHEALTH · 2021 · $891,257

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Rural areas of Northern New England suffer from disparities in health status, health care access and clinical
outcomes that lead to increased morbidity and mortality. Compounding this problem, rural providers and
populations are seriously under-represented in clinical trials and health services research activities. Improving
population health depends on successful translation of findings from basic science to clinical research, and
subsequently to broader adoption through implementation science and public policy. This translational
spectrum requires strong connections to clinical practice, not only as a testing ground for innovative ideas, but
also as an environment in which real-world problems can be identified, characterized and brought forward as
targets for research. The broad goal of the Rural Health Research and Delivery (RHRD) Core is to develop and
support a partnership between academic institutions and rural practices in Northern New England to
successfully carry out clinical and translational research. To achieve this goal we will engage in a series of
activities designed to: 1) create a bi-directional partnership between academic centers and rural practices in
order to stimulate research ideas, facilitate clinical and translational research, and test strategies to improve
health; 2) develop the infrastructure to support research in rural practices; and 3) enhance research capacity
through improved data access, data standardization, and, in collaboration with the Clinical Research Design,
Epidemiology, and Biostatistics Core (CRDEB), provide training and access to state-of-the art observational
and clinical research methodologies. These aims will be supported by strategies to engage rural practices in
the research enterprise and in relationships with academic research partners in a team science and
cooperative extension model approach. This includes the creation of innovative new research professional
positions in Maine and Vermont, Practice-based Research Catalysts, who will facilitate communication and
relationship building between academy and community, and will support the development and implementation
of research projects. We will also develop formal and informal opportunities for researchers from academic
centers and public/community health professionals to meet and work with rural clinicians, and collect
qualitative data from rural clinicians and their practice organizations to understand the potential benefits and
perceived barriers of participating in clinical and translational research. Finally, we will expand Northern New
England providers' participation in the Observational Health Data, Science and Informatics platform, an
innovative community of clinicians, researchers and data scientists committed to improving data comparability
and robust research methodologies for observational and other clinical research. The activities of the RHRD
core will involve collaboration with all of the other cores in this prop...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10205090
- **Project number:** 5U54GM115516-05
- **Recipient organization:** MAINEHEALTH
- **Principal Investigator:** Jan Kirk Carney
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $891,257
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-07-03 → 2022-08-04

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10205090

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10205090, Rural Health Research and Delivery Core (5U54GM115516-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10205090. Licensed CC0.

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