The unprecedented explosion in biomedical and behavioral research coupled with the tremendous advancement in communication systems and technology over the last century sets the stage for a new paradigm in approaching the disease control continuum. With more personalized and participatory methods, preempting disease is more of a reality today than it ever has been. However, without the translation of such research and knowledge effectively communicated to underserved communities, the existing inequalities in health will widen. This application seeks to bridge the gap in communication on research through fostering a budding campus-community partnership between Northwestern University (NU) and a suburban, underserved community, DuPage County. This campus-community partnership will leverage DuPage Health Coalition's active involvement and knowledge of their community with partners who have a well-established record of research in underserved populations at NU. Building upon each of our strengths, shared knowledge, and valuable experiences, we anticipate that a research partnership focused on the suburban poor establishes an ideal opportunity for a creative interaction utilizing a community based participatory model. Within this proposal, we aim to enhance the community's understanding of research design and methods through community strategies focusing on the unique differences in language and communication concerning health and disease used by medically underserved community members and academic university researchers. Such a relationship will lead to the development of personalized, culturally appropriate language with which to more effectively: 1) build dialogue around;2) implement;3) evaluate;and 4) disseminate research within the community of DuPage. It is our aim that this new found level of understanding will lead to the development of a lay health outreach worker program that can help sustain the improved communication on research and thus promote prevention of disease and improve health within this underserved community. The culmination of this two year proposal is to fortify a true research partnership based on mutual trust and common goals that will enhance the quality of research and data on future collaborative projects.
