# Rio Grande Valley Cancer Health Disparity Research Center

> **NIH NIH U54** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS RIO GRANDE VALLEY · 2024 · $650,427

## Abstract

The Rio Grande Valley Cancer Health Disparity Research Center (RGV-CHDRC) Community Engagement Core
(CEC) is a comprehensive outreach, engagement, education, and patient navigation effort designed to identify
community health-related needs and priorities, promote participation in research, promote recruitment and
retention of study participants, support patients in the navigation of treatment, educate communities leading to
better health outcomes, and promote the translation of research findings to eliminate or reduce health disparities
among several National Institutes of Health (NIH) priority. The CEC will leverage a culturally competent
leadership team with sustained efforts in relationship and capacity building in the region to conduct community
engaged research. Building upon a strong, existing community engagement foundation through the Area Health
Education Centers (AHEC) and their Community Advisory Boards, the RGV-CHDRC will further develop long-
term relationships with community based organizations within priority communities, build necessary trust to
engage diverse populations in research, disseminate research results in an understandable way, provide
investigator, trainee and community education, and develop cross-sector referral networks to provide effective
patient navigation to appropriate resources when needed through outreach activities involving cancer screening.
To develop these cross-sector networks, the CEC will collaborate with intradisciplinary teams consisting of
community leaders, researchers, academic institutions, non-profits, industry, and others to ensure resources and
support are available when needed. The CEC will also collaborate with the core leaders and other scholars to
ensure the success of research projects that involve the recruitment and retention of priority populations though
sharing culturally informed, evidence-based best practices.
The overall goal of the CEC is to establish and build research capacity by ensuring the participation and retention
of priority populations in research projects, growing long-term, sustainable relationships with community
members and community-based organizations that will partner with the Center in conducting relevant pilot
studies and community engaged research projects, and disseminating and translating research findings to
inform policy or policy change, scientific knowledge and practice, and prevention and education outreach to
reduce health disparities in Hispanic/Latino, underserved rural and lower SES communities.
The CEC leadership will collaborate with the PIs, core leaders, researchers, and others to 1) build a network of
community partnerships and relationships to ensure long-term resources and care for the communities of the
RGV; 2) and effective methods to disseminate results; 3) provide coordination and support for patients after a
positive diagnosis to ensure follow-up treatment and care as well as connect resources for financial assistance
for the uninsured; ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11001856
- **Project number:** 1U54MD019970-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS RIO GRANDE VALLEY
- **Principal Investigator:** Beatriz Tapia
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $650,427
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-08-18 → 2029-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11001856

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11001856, Rio Grande Valley Cancer Health Disparity Research Center (1U54MD019970-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11001856. Licensed CC0.

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