The ICTR Community Engaged Research Pilot Awards Program, made possible by Wisconsin Partnership Program support to ICTR, helps researchers generate collaborations and pilot data that can inform larger projects. The awards provide resources to support the translation of research into practice, reduce health disparities, and foster system changes needed to promote long-term sustainability in Wisconsin.
ICTR is proud to support the following 10 Community Engaged Research Pilot Awards. Please join us in congratulating the following investigators, mentors, and community partners on their awards!
Collaborative Health Equity Research (CHER) Track 1
The CHER Track 1 Award supports a collaborative, mentored experience for postdoctoral scholars in clinical and translational research (CTR). It is designed to provide a foundation for career development and the acquisition of preliminary data for subsequent funding mechanisms.
Understanding the Sexual and Reproductive Health of Adults Living with Sickle Cell Disease
Investigator Brittanni Wright and mentors Claire Wendland and Jenny Higgins, with community partner Sickle Cell Reproductive Health Education Directive
The impact of chronic diseases and chronic illnesses on a person’s sexual well-being and overall health is understudied, and medical providers fail to address the sexual needs of those living with chronic diseases. This project lays the foundation for a comprehensive understanding of how sickle cell disease affects a person’s sexual well-being, a critical aspect of their overall health. The goal is to create the first sexuality-specific curriculum that addresses sexual well-being among adult people living with sickle cell disease.
Establishing the Groundwork for Vocational Rehabilitation Interventions for Cancer Survivors
Investigator Hannah Fry with mentor Kristin Litzelman, with community partner Gilda’s Club Madison
Despite clinical guidelines advocating for work-related goals in survivorship programs, there are few comprehensive, evidence-based, return-to-work or continue-to-work programs tailored to cancer survivors. This project aims to adapt a successful Vocational Rehabilitation Facilitation model, originally used in spinal cord injury rehabilitation, for cancer survivorship to promote health equity and reduce economic and employment disparities.
Shifting Paradigms: Applying Strategic Action Field Theory to Align Law Enforcement and Harm Reduction Efforts for People Who Use Drugs
Investigator Emily Claypool with mentor Rachel Gicquelais, with community partners Alliance to Heal, La Crosse Police Department, Addiction Medical Solutions of Wisconsin
Harm reduction strategies—like deflecting people who use drugs to health services instead of arresting them—have been proven effective. Despite this evidence, law enforcement agencies have been slow to adopt these strategies. Using interviews with both harm reduction advocates and law enforcement in La Crosse, Wisconsin, the study aims to uncover the strategies, challenges, and opportunities for collaboration between these groups. The goal is to find ways to reduce the harm caused by the legal system, particularly for marginalized groups, and foster more effective collaboration between public health and public safety initiatives.
Collaborative Health Equity Research (CHER) Track 2
The CHER Track 2 Award supports a collaborative, mentored experience for assistant professors in CTR designed to provide a foundation for career development and preliminary data for subsequent funding mechanisms.
Healing Tiny Minds: Rural Recovery Through Virtual and Lived Experience Care
Investigator Melisa Carrasco McCaul with mentors Kathrine Hustad and Haley Vlach, with community partner Hope for Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE)
This study focuses on improving access to cognitive rehabilitation for children with perinatal brain injuries, especially in underserved rural areas. It tests whether using an Engagement Specialist with lived experience will improve study enrollment, retention, and participant satisfaction through authentic connections and aligning engagement strategies with family values. The project will design and pilot a recruitment strategy tailored to these families, aiming to make pediatric research more inclusive and community-centered while laying the groundwork for a larger clinical trial.
Breast Cancer Awareness and Risk Education for Asian Americans (CARE): Program Development
Investigator Jingxi Sheng with mentor Lisa Cadmus-Bertram, with community partners Supporting Hmong Identified Professionals Allies (SHIPA) and Global Market, Inc.
Breast cancer rates among Asian American women under 50 have risen by 50% over the past two decades. This group has low screening rates, and existing prevention programs rarely target Asian Americans or are inaccessible. This study aims to develop and test a culturally tailored breast cancer prevention program, Breast Cancer Awareness and Risk Education, to promote awareness and encourage proactive health behaviors. Guided by community input and collaboration, the program will build on a successful cancer screening program for the Hmong community and then evaluate for its acceptability in Asian American communities.
Ready for Change? Wisconsin Asian Communities’ Experience in Addressing Mental Illness
Investigator Sang Qin with mentor Maichou Lor, with community organization Madison Area Chinese Community Organization (MACCO)
Mental health crises are growing among Asian American young adults in Wisconsin, where suicide rates are high and service use is low. Researchers will assess how ready Hmong and Chinese communities in Wisconsin are to address mental illness among young adults. This study will use interviews and focus groups with community leaders to identify community-specific needs and co-create culturally appropriate strategies. Findings are expected to fill a critical knowledge gap and lay the groundwork for future research to create culturally specific interventions that address mental illness disparities.
Dissemination & Implementation Research (D&I)
The Dissemination & Implementation Research Pilot Award provides support for proposals that aim to effectively implement, disseminate, and scale up evidence-based or evidence-informed interventions or programs into clinical, community, and/or public health practice settings that impact policy.
Using Implementation Mapping to Develop a Toolkit Supporting Implementation of an Autism Screening and Care Navigation Protocol for Children in Foster Care
Investigator Liliana Wagner with community partners Dane County Department of Human Services and Children’s Resource Center–South
Children in the foster care system often face delays in diagnosis and treatment. Using a community-partnered approach, researchers will identify barriers to autism screening and care navigation at multiple levels—including systems, caregivers, and social workers—and develop tailored strategies to address them. The project will result in a toolkit for foster care social workers and caregivers, with the goal of increasing timely access to autism services.
Equity in Hearing Healthcare: Dissemination of a Pilot Study on the Hmong Recognition Test with AI-Automated Scoring Intervention
Investigators Maichou Lor and Sara Misurelli with community partner Waisman Center Clinical Translation Core
Currently, word recognition tests for people with hearing loss can only be administered by an audiologist fluent in the patient’s language or in the presence of an in-person interpreter trained in scoring the tests. This creates barriers for millions of people who speak languages other than English. This project aims to develop an AI-automated scoring system for non-English tests, starting with the Hmong language. It will also assess how well the AI performs compared to human scoring and evaluate its acceptability and feasibility in clinical settings.
Patient Engaged Partnership Research (PEPR)
The PEPR Pilot Award provides support for proposals that generate useful, real-world applications of interventions and facilitate the dissemination and uptake of research findings. This award emphasizes the meaningful involvement of patients, caregivers, clinicians, and other health care partners throughout the research process.
Assessing Community Readiness and Building Partnerships for Dysphagia and Dementia Research in the Latinx and African Immigrant Communities
Investigator Nicole Rogus-Pulia with community partners African Center for Community Development and Latino Health Council of Dane County
This project aims to improve the inclusion of Latinx and African immigrant communities in clinical research on dysphagia (swallowing difficulties) among people with Alzheimer’s and related dementias (ADRD). Researchers will assess community awareness and readiness to engage in such studies and identify barriers and facilitators to participation. The expected outcome is a set of community-oriented approaches to enhance future research participation. The infrastructure and resources developed as part of this project will serve as a foundation for future multi-site studies, ultimately improving health equity in ADRD care and research.
Community Definitions of Safety during Mental Health Crisis Response
Investigator Rachel Odes and community partners National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Sun Prairie Department of Police, Dane County Public Safety Communications, and Marathon County Sheriff’s Office
The decision to send alternative responders, mental health providers who can respond to mental health crisis calls instead of police, often rests on the call-takers’ understanding of situation safety. This project explores how social identity affects perceptions of safety and access to care during emergency calls. Insights from focus groups will inform a training tool for 911 call-takers to help them make more trauma-informed, equitable decisions when dispatching alternative responders instead of police.
More about these awards
This year, a robust number of proposals were received, particularly from early-stage investigators (postdoctoral scholars and faculty) and first-time contact principal investigators. These interdisciplinary projects advance health as a collective endeavor for populations in Wisconsin for whom health disparities exist.
ICTR thanks the independent reviewers who provided scores and critiques for each submission. To ensure each proposal met high standards of rigor, innovation, and impact, all highly scored proposals underwent a comprehensive review process conducted by the ICTR Community Engaged Research Scientific Review Committee, as well as an External Community Review Committee. The chairs and members of these committees helped select the most responsive projects.
Funding for these projects was provided by the UW School of Medicine and Public Health from the Wisconsin Partnership Program through a Strategic grant awarded to the UW Institute for Clinical and Translational Research at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.