Project Summary
Our project, Connecting Research to Real Life, is the outcome of a long-term collaboration between Dr. Kristen Dillon (the community/health system co-Principal Investigator [co-PI]) and Dr. Melinda Davis (the research co-PI). Our award leverages the structure of the Columbia Gorge Coordinated Care Organization and Oregon Rural Practice-Based Research Network to establish a robust and relevant academic community–based research collaborative called the Community Health Advocacy and Research Alliance (CHARA).
In Tier III, our academic-community collaborative aims to 1) turn our comparative effectiveness research questions into fundable research applications to PCORI, National Cancer Institute, and American Cancer Society; 2) increase the sustainability of our collaboration through existing community and academic partnerships; and 3) address the broad spectrum of community-identified health needs relevant to CHARA members.
The CHARA core team, partner agencies, research ambassadors, and associated regional and national partners are poised to secure funding from PCORI to compare the effectiveness of interventions to improve colorectal cancer screening in rural and underserved settings and to pursue opportunities to address other community-identified health needs during the Tier III Pipeline to Proposal Award period.