Strategies to Engage Community Partners in Research used by Delaware-CTR ACCEL

Community-engagement is a key step in conducting research which is impactful for patients and communities. The Delaware Clinical and Translational Research (DE-CTR), Accelerating Clinical and Translational Research (ACCEL) program has implemented several successful approaches to engage our community, and to educate and motivate our researchers in this area. Increased participation in community-engaged research and community-based participatory research was accomplished through DE-CTR/ACCEL using multiple methods detailed in this manuscript. The community engagement infrastructure has fostered community involvement in translational research including capacity development, implementation, evaluation and dissemination. Academic-community partnerships for research, such as those implemented in ACCEL will be crucial to addressing health disparities and health priorities.