# Implementation Science and Equity: Community Engagement & Outreach (CEO) Core

> **NIH NIH P20** · UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS MEDICAL CENTER · 2024 · $178,035

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT: COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT & OUTREACH (CEO) CORE
Engaging with patients, families, caregivers, neighborhoods, and communities is an essential feature of
implementation research. Meaningful engagement requires trust, which comes from sustained collaboration
over time. In the case of rural research, substantial distances between researchers and stakeholders create
even more serious barriers to meaningful engagement. In addition, culturally competent approaches—informed
through partnerships with those individuals and communities experiencing inequities—are essential for making
a meaningful impact on population health. The vision for the CEO Core is to offer a comprehensive suite of
educational opportunities and facilitating services that accelerate stakeholder engagement for researchers to
achieve maximal engagement effectiveness. The specific aims of the CEO Core are to:
Aim 1. Orient investigators to equity research and community engagement frameworks and create
engagement plans to support implementation research that is focused on equity. The CEO Core team
will guide Project Leads in the development of an engagement plan, adapted from the PCORI Engagement
Plan Template. The CEO Core team will meet with Project Leads on a quarterly basis to review engagement
plans and benchmarks, share lessons learned, and troubleshoot barriers.
Aim 2. Provide comprehensive community engagement services for COBRE projects and the broader
research community that successfully reaches populations experiencing health disparities. The CEO
will link COBRE investigators with organizations and community-engaged professionals across Kansas that
can facilitate culturally informed and competent engagement. Based on the engagement plan, the CEO will link
investigators and their community partners using services and trainings to meet benchmarks for engagement.
Aim 3. Support dissemination of research project findings and methods for pursuing equity through
community engagement. The CEO will support on-going engagement that ultimately will lead to breadth and
depth of dissemination of research findings to stakeholders, including patients, clinicians, organizations,
societies, and policy makers.
Aim 4. Collaborate with the Administrative Core to evaluate CEO effectiveness. The Core will collect
ongoing data to evaluate and improve services. In addition, the Core will collect data from Project Leads and
pilot project awardees on community engagement activities in real time via the Community Check Box
Evaluation System.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10927187
- **Project number:** 5P20GM139733-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Elizabeth Ann Calhoun
- **Activity code:** P20 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $178,035
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-09-11 → 2028-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10927187

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10927187, Implementation Science and Equity: Community Engagement & Outreach (CEO) Core (5P20GM139733-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10927187. Licensed CC0.

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