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Altman Clinical & Translational Research Institute ACTRI

Bridging Research and Community: Advancing Population Science for Lasting Impact

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Collaboration, Engagement, and Dissemination and Implementation 

San Diego County is one of the most ethnically and geographically robust areas in the U.S.—ranging from affluent and urban population centers to rural agricultural areas. The Collaboration, Engagement, and Dissemination and Implementation (CEDI) Unit is dedicated to overcoming challenges to research and the dissemination and implementation (D&I) of its benefits to all our communities. The CEDI Unit aims to:  

  • Identify community-based research priorities and the challenges they are facing to address them 
  • Develop and evaluate community engagement tools and strategies that address community-identified research priorities and overcome challenges
  • Use evidence-based strategies to package and disseminate community engagement tools with high scalability potential & assess their uptake and impact   

 

Collaboration, Engagement, and Dissemination and Implementation Teams

Center for Community Health (CCH)

CCH addresses health disparities and improves health outcomes through an interdisciplinary community partnerships approach.

Learn more about CCH

Dissemination and Implementation Science Center

DISC focuses on dissemination and implementation science across UC San Diego Health Sciences. Key activities include training, consultation, technical assistance, and mentoring to advance D&I science with a local, national, and global impact.

Learn more about DISC

Community-Engaged Research Methods (CRM)

The mission of CRM is to facilitate and expand the study of population health. We provide training, education, and consulting services that reduce challenges to research for ACTRI affiliates.

Learn more about CRM

Community Advisory Board (CAB)

Community Advisory Board

The Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute (ACTRI) Community Advisory Board (CAB) is dedicated to fostering meaningful collaborations between the research community and the public. The CAB’s mission is to ensure that community engagement is central to ACTRI’s research efforts, aligning ACTRI's work with the priorities and needs of the community. 

The ACTRI receives guidance from its Community Advisory Board (CAB), which is comprised of a core group of community leaders from across our region. Members are invited for their high-level expertise in their engagement of local communities, including community-building (e.g., Global Action Research Center), peer leaders who improve the health of their communities (e.g., San Diego Promotores Academy), and local public health agencies. The CAB provides a strong community voice in all ACTRI activities with two voting representatives on our Executive Committee.

The Role of the Community Advisory Board (CAB)

The Community Advisory Board (CAB) plays a vital role in ensuring that research is community-informed, ethically conducted, and aligned with real-world health priorities. Through sustained partnership and shared leadership, the CAB helps shape research that is meaningful, equitable, and impactful.

1. Shaping Research Priorities

The CAB takes a proactive role in identifying research priorities that reflect the needs, concerns, and lived experiences of the community. By centering community voice, the CAB helps guide research toward areas of greatest relevance and impact.

2. Facilitating Community-Led Initiatives

The CAB supports and helps facilitate community-led research initiatives, prioritizing areas identified by the community — such as refugee health, chronic disease prevention, and other pressing health concerns. These initiatives are aligned with the expertise of ACTRI-affiliated researchers who are committed to work that has meaningful community impact.

This strategic role ensures that the CAB not only advises on research but also actively supports research efforts that address immediate health needs across communities.

3. Building Long-Term Relationships

The CAB emphasizes sustained, trust-based engagement with community members. This includes:

  • Ongoing listening sessions

  • Structured feedback loops

  • Continuous opportunities for community input

Community insights are intentionally integrated into the research process, allowing research priorities and methods to evolve in response to changing community needs.

4. Guiding Ethical and Equitable Research

The CAB plays a key role in guiding research conducted by ACTRI and its affiliated researchers to ensure alignment with principles of data justice, ethical standards, and meaningful community consent.

The CAB provides guidance on:

  • Study design

  • Participant recruitment

  • Data collection practices

  • Equity throughout the research process

This ensures that research is conducted responsibly, transparently, and in ways that promote fairness and inclusion.

5. Supporting the Translation of Research to Policy

The CAB helps facilitate the translation of research findings that have policy implications, supporting community partners and community-based organizations in their efforts to address systemic health inequities. Through this work, the CAB helps ensure that research does not end with publication, but contributes to real-world improvements in community health.

 

Community Research Council

The Community Research Council is an extension of our CAB’s representation duties. The council is populated by representatives nominated from the over 40 community-based organizations (CBO) that have ongoing work with the PopSci Unit. Council members help co-design and disseminate research initiatives relative to their expertise, including ACTRI K12, RC2 and pilot projects. 

  • Council benefits include compensation and acknowledgement as valued partners in these activities (e.g., co-investigators and co-authors of publications) 

 

 If you would like more information on the ACTRI CAB, are interested in becoming a CAB member, or know someone who would be interested in becoming a CAB member reach out to us!

  Contact Us

(Select "PopSci" as the unit)

 

Education and Training

ACTRI's Collaboration, Engagement, and Dissemination and Implementation unit actively engages in providing the infrastructure, resources, and training to guide, inform and support community engaged research. Below are education and training opportunities from fellow ACTRI units engaged in collaboration, population science, and community engagement:


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Building Research Integrity and Capacity (BRIC) program, a bilingual curriculum in Spanish and English designed to provide community health workers with foundational training in research bioethics.

An Interactive Guide for Promotores de Salud/Community Health Workers 

This course is designed to increase research literacy and awareness of ethical research practices among community members involved in academic research. Our target learners are research team members, including Promotores and Community Health Workers, who assist with designing and implementing community and clinic-based health research. 

Why do Promotores/CHWs need BRIC training?  

Promotores/CHWs are essential members of the research team and, as such, should have access to effective and relevant training. Most research ethics education is designed for academics who have extensive training in research design and methods. We designed BRIC to build research capacity among individuals with little formal academic research training yet involved with the design, implementation, and reporting of community health research. If Promotores/CHWs have an understanding of how research is designed and implemented, they will be better able to carry out their responsibilities when supporting a research study.

Designing Research to Improve Study Recruitment  

We have partnered with the Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute (ACTRI) to create a course for researchers who want to improve study recruitment strategies. Designing Research to Improve Study Recruitment applies the principles of respect for persons, beneficence and justice across the lifespan of a research project.

This course objective is to increase awareness about successful recruitment strategies.

Why do academic trainees need to learn how to design research to include various communities? 

The involvement of communities in research studies is critically important to informing healthcare policies and practices. Researchers who plan to involve key populations in research will benefit from learning how to plan and conduct responsible research through respectful and authentic partnerships.

 

Access the Courses

 

 

UCSD ACTRI Dissemination and Implementation Science Center (DISC)

The UCSD ACTRI DISC is a center focused on dissemination and implementation science across UC San Diego Health Sciences. Key activities provided by the UC San Diego ACTRI DISC include training, consultation, technical assistance, and mentoring to advance D&I science with a local, national, and global impact. The DISC offers a monthly Dissemination and Implementation Science Seminar that covers a wide-variety of topics. Additionally, the DISC co-hosts with the IN STEP Children’s Mental Health Center and San Diego Center for AIDS Research Implementation Science Hub, a bi-monthly seminar series: “Qualitative Methods for Implementation Research and Community Engagement”

Contacts

Resources

Research Impact Profiles

Explore the real-world impact of research being done at the ACTRI. The TSBM Impact Profiles showcase the potential and demonstrated benefits of our research across community, clinical, economic, and policy sectors. These profiles are intended to be a resource that community members and researchers can use to learn more about the research being done at the ACTRI, societal and research-related benefits that stem from this research, and to bridge knowledge sharing among the public and research communities.

Navigate to the Research Impact Profiles

Tips on Working with Faith-Based Organizations

A two-page informational flyer that discusses the role of faith-based organizations, their impact on their communities, and provides tips on engaging with congregation members.

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Improving Muslim Youth Participation in Physical Education and Physical Activity in San Diego County

San Diego County is home to a large and growing Muslim population. Its members are diverse, coming from a variety of racial and socioeconomic backgrounds, and include
immigrants, refugees, and native-born Americans.

This guide addresses one specific aspect of those inclusion efforts: improving and encouraging participation of Muslim youth in physical activity.

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¡ M Á S F R E S C O ! More Fresh Program Impact Report

Impact report for the Más Fresco More Fresh nutrition incentive program. This report summarized the social media campaign that was used to raise awareness about theprogram and enroll more CalFresh recipients in Southeast and Mid-City San Diego.

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Geospatial Health

Geospatial health enables spatial representation of data to support better public health planning and decision-making.

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Non-Discrimination Statement

In accordance with applicable Federal and State law and University policy, the University of California does not discriminate, or grant preferences, on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, and/or other protected categories.


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More information about the University of California Anti-Discrimination Policy can be found here.