TRANSCEND-Community Engagement and Outreach Core Core Summary The TRANSCEND Community Engagement and Outreach Core (CEOC) will focus on engaging populations across the state of North Dakota to address serious physiological and behavioral disorders that disproportionately affect our citizens. The CEOC will facilitate the development, testing, and dissemination of effective interventions that address often- preventable behaviorally mediated physiologic disorders such as cancers, diabetes, dementia, addictions, and/or behavioral disorders such as depression and suicide. These disorders often preferentially afflict minority and/or marginalized populations, including (but not limited to) ND’s American Indians, children and women, the elderly, poor rural families, farm families, and the disabled who reside in healthcare shortage areas. The long-term goal of the CEOC is to develop community-based research priorities that can be translated into improved health outcomes in ND. This will include an implementation plan to improve health status by linking research findings to policy and program development and by promoting dialogue and disseminating the research findings to tribal leaders, community stakeholders, and research scientists. Using a Community-Based, Participatory Research (CBPR) framework, an implementation plan will be developed in close partnership with communities participating in TRANSCEND activities. The short-term goal of the CEOC is to engage rural, urban, and tribal partners through the CBPR framework. Community engagement is essential to the success of clinical and translational research projects and will facilitate the effectiveness of investigators’ work within these communities. Through the following Specific Aims, the CEOC will 1) Engage community advisory boards to identify and prioritize the health issues and concerns of TRANSCEND’s communities and populations; 2) Assist investigators in developing culturally appropriate, community-engaged research projects and facilitate the recruitment and retention of research participants; and 3) Utilize effective communication strategies to engage and connect communities, community clinics, investigators, and TRANSCEND leadership and staff for their mutual benefit. The overall impact of the CEOC will be to elevate patient-centered, community-engaged health research to strengthen the links among research discoveries, bidirectional translation, and implementation of policies to improve the health status of populations in ND.