Gonzalez-Guarda and Colleague Submit NIH All of Us Application

Kudos to Rosa Gonzalez-Guarda, associate professor; Deepak Kumar, of North Carolina Central University; and their entire team for the submission of their NIH All of Us application entitled "Center for Engagement Products for All of Us (CEPA)." This proposal requests funding for a five-year period with a start date of June 1, 2019. 

A cornerstone of All of Us is engaging diverse and multicultural communities that have historically been excluded from biomedical research. This proposal to establish a Center for Engagement Products for All of Us (CEPA) in response to OT-PM-19-003. The Duke University School of Nursing (DUSON) will partner with North Carolina Central University (NCCU), a Historically Black College and University (HBCU), the Duke Clinical & Translational Science Institute (CTSI), and organizations serving diverse communities to generate innovations for All of Us that engage underrepresented minorities and groups. We have two specific aims.

Aim 1: Co-design innovative engagement strategies and tactics to increase awareness of All of Us to drive enrollment and maximize engagement and retention in the study.

Aim 2: Optimize the reach, impact, and scalability of these strategies, engaging communities that have been underrepresented in the biomedical sciences in All of Us as both research participants and partners. 

The proposed partnership leverages the public’s trust in the nursing profession (DUSON) and HBCUs (NCCU), robust national alumni networks and partnerships from both institutions, the national patient catchment area of Duke Health, and community engagement programs of the broader CTSI network. We propose a unique approach that will create a center (CEPA) to generate innovations for community, experiential learning, multicultural, digital, and provider engagement in All of Us with high potential for reach, impact, and scalability. CEPA will take a health equity approach, emphasizing the importance of participating in All of Us as a means to ensure that everyone, especially populations traditionally underrepresented in the biomedical sciences, have the same opportunity to benefit from the promise of precision medicine.