# Community Engagement and Outreach Core

> **NIH NIH U54** · WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $295,249

## Abstract

The Community Engagement and Outreach (CEO) Core of the West Virginia Clinical and Translational Science
Institute (WVCTSI) brings patients, providers, and community members together, to ensure that the Institute’s
research agenda reflects the health priorities of rural communities, and that study findings and recommendations
inform practical, sustainable, and scalable strategies to promote health. The CEO Core has developed a critically
important statewide infrastructure in West Virginia (WV), providing a platform for engaging communities,
providers, and patients to participate as comprehensive research partners. The CEO Core Aims are designed to
synergistically address cross-cutting themes including rural health, diversity, inclusion and equity, and
addressing the rural research pipeline The CEO Core is well-positioned to build upon its existing operations and
resources to provide innovative services that increase community access to and participation through cutting-
edge science. We will accomplish these Aims by establishing the first Implementation Science Center (ISC) in
WV (Aim 1). The ISC is where academicians, researchers, healthcare providers, and community members
receive the services and expertise needed to expand ideas into fundable implementation projects. Aim 1 success
will result in the recruitment of an implementation scientist, and technical assistance provided by the CEO core,
managing readiness, and sustainability. For Aim 2, the CEO Core will engage rural populations in research
through three broad categories: 1) increased access to evidence-based interventions and community-based
participatory research through community forums, 2) a focus on experiential learning through collaboration with
the WV Area Health Education Centers(WV AHEC) Rural Community Health Scholars (RCH) Program, and 3)
support the development of a mobile clinical trials unit (MCTU)to increase access for rural populations through
a partnership with the Clinical Research Resources & Facilities (CRRF) Core. Aim 3 activities will focus on the
dissemination of research findings to address the disconnect between scientific discovery and community
implementation of evidence-based practices in rural areas. This will be accomplished by: 1) improving rural
community clinic dissemination by hosting 1-2 Community ECHOs per year; 2) improving community
dissemination through the development of a CEO dissemination plan; and 3) assisting early-stage and
community-based investigators by partnering with the Professional Development Core, to provide trainings to
assist investigators in developing specific project plans for dissemination. Successful completion of the
aforementioned specific aims will increase the speed of translation from the bench to the community, increase
uptake of interventions, and combat the 2021 culture of misinformation.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10505667
- **Project number:** 2U54GM104942-07
- **Recipient organization:** WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Stephenie Kay Kennedy-Rea
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $295,249
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2012-08-15 → 2027-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10505667

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10505667, Community Engagement and Outreach Core (2U54GM104942-07). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10505667. Licensed CC0.

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