BETHESDA, Md. Researchers from the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance participated in the North American Primary Care Research Group (NAPCRG) Practice Based Research Network Conference 2015. MVA Executive Director Dr. Consuelo H. Wilkins, MD, MCSI opened the conference, which took place June 29 and 30, with a plenary focus on “What is Engagement?”
Other speakers presented a conceptual model for stakeholder engagement, experiences from clinicians and patients who are partnering on research proposals creating bidirectional relationships/interactions and perspectives of engaging with health system leaders
“Practice Based Research Network (PBRN) researchers from the United States and Canada came together to share methods, strategies and results,” MVA PBRN Coordinator Lisa Sherden, BSN said of the event.
Conference presentations included the full range of issues related to practice based research networks, including sessions on:
- networking and partnerships
- prevention and chronic disease management
- health disparities and research methodology practice
- quality improvement
- stakeholder engagement
Executive Director of the Office for Community Engagement for the Vanderbilt Institute for Medicine and Public Health Yvonne Joosten, MPH; Translational Research Coordinator for Vanderbilt's Institute for Medicine and Public Health Tiffany Israel; and Nashville OIC Executive Director Helena Farrow presented a workshop on “Jump Starting Your Stakeholder Engagement with a Community Engagement Studio (CES),” with a mock studio giving attendees the opportunity to experience the CES process and gain a new understanding of how stakeholders can contribute meaningfully to research.
“It was an informative and enjoyable conference,” Sherden commented. "Congratulations on a job well done to the conference's co-chair, Rowena Dolor, MD, MHS, who is also Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University and Co-Director of the Meharry-Vanderbilt Community Research Network."
About the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance
Founded in 1999, the Alliance bridges the institutions of Meharry Medical College and Vanderbilt University. Its mission is to enrich learning and advance clinical research by developing and supporting mutually beneficial partnerships between Meharry Medical College, Vanderbilt University and the communities they serve.
