# Clinical and Translational Science Award

> **NIH NIH UL1** · MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WISCONSIN · 2021 · $1,250,000

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT for Randomized COVID-19 Testing in Vulnerable Communities and Risk Tool Creation
The broad objective of this project is first to perform community-engaged research using randomized COVID-19 tests
among vulnerable populations in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, and then to use innovative empirical methods to
measure infection rates and progression risk, if infected, from symptomatic infection, to hospitalization, ICU admission,
and death. This project is part of the NIH RADx-UP initiative to transform health through research and discovery in
COVID testing among underserved populations. The 2-year project has three specific aims. Aim 1: Use randomized COVID
antibody testing of more than 23,000 persons to measure the population proportion infected with COVID and how this
proportion varies over time and with patient health and demographic characteristics. Twelve partner primary care health
centers and 150 churches will support community engagement to achieve target enrollments for low-income, minority and
elderly populations. These populations will be oversampled to obtain more precise estimates for these high-risk groups. Aim
2: Use extensive data linkages to health care data, virus testing data, and mortality records to estimate infection rates and
progression risks as a multivariate function of patient and community characteristics. A web-based risk assessment tool in
English and Spanish will be created to allow individuals, families, and health care professionals to assess individual progression
risk and household transmission risk and to advise individuals on risk mitigation. This risk assessment tool will be informed by
the Milwaukee data and will be of value nationwide. Aim 3: When COVID vaccines become available, the risk assessment tool
will be used to inform the prioritization of vaccination of higher risk individuals. Established trusting relationships with
primary care health centers and churches that serve vulnerable populations, social media outreach, community interest
in COVID antibody test results, and easily accessed web-based consents, surveys, and risk assessment tools, as well as
Community Advisory Board and focus groups input, will foster successful participation in this project. Random sampling
methods will be used to estimate the population proportion infected as a function of demographic and health
characteristics accounting for the potential for COVID virus testing, antibody testing, or both, to result in false negative
test results. Population-representative estimates will be adjusted to account for oversampling of elderly, minority, and
low-income populations, and for differences in response rates to the testing offers. To estimate progression risk, the
tested population will be used to create a “synthetic” Milwaukee. This synthetic Milwaukee information will be
combined with data on deceased patients and hospitalized patients to estimate progression risks. Core empirical
methods innovations include: 1...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10478410
- **Project number:** 3UL1TR001436-07S1
- **Recipient organization:** MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WISCONSIN
- **Principal Investigator:** Bernard S Black
- **Activity code:** UL1 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $1,250,000
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2015-08-18 → 2023-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10478410

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10478410, Clinical and Translational Science Award (3UL1TR001436-07S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10478410. Licensed CC0.

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