Research Project
10171586
MT INBRE's Community Engagement Core (CEC) has been critical to the program's success for the last 18 years. During MT INBRE III, the CEC helped develop two IDeA programs in Montana, The Center for American Indian and Rural Health Equity (CAIRHE) and the American Indian/Alaska Native Clinical and Translational Research Program (AI/AN CTRP). Both new programs have a CEC similar to MT INBRE's, and we began to integrate these programs during this past year. Because the CEC also will be critical to MT INBRE IV, we will strengthen it by continuing to integrate the CECs of the 3 IDeA programs, administering them as a coordinated network. The integrated MT IDeA CEC will be stronger than the sum of its three parts and will eliminate redundancy among the programs. Thus, the MT IDeA CEC will contribute more effectively to accomplishing the overall MT INBRE goal of improving the health of Montana's rural and Native communities. To achieve these goals, we will accomplish three specific aims. Aim 1: Continue to develop and organize the new integrated MT IDeA Community Engagement Core. Aim 2: Recruit, train and mentor tribal and rural health equity researchers. Aim 3: Enhance and develop Montana's capacity for health equity research.
