Dissemination and Outreach Core

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ABSTRACT – Dissemination and Outreach Core The overall goal of the Duke Autism Center of Excellence (ACE) is to use a translational digital health and computational approach to address the critical need for effective autism screening tools, objective outcome measures, and brain-based biomarkers that can be used in clinical trials with young autistic children. The Dissemination and Outreach Core (DOC) will support this effort in three ways. First, we will facilitate communication of findings to a wide range of audiences, including scientists, practitioners, educators, legislators, autistic people and their families, and the public. Second, the DOC will promote bi-directional communication between ACE investigators and the community of autistic individuals and family members. We will engage in a wide range of community engagement activities that support our relationships and communication with the community. We will promote bi-directional communication through the ACE’s racially, culturally, and ethnically diverse Community Engagement Advisory Board (CEAB), which includes self-advocates, parents, educators, policy leaders, healthcare providers, and business leaders. Two-way communication also will be promoted by leveraging our existing strong partnerships with national and state-level government organizations, autism advocacy organizations, and education nonprofit organizations. We will continue our partnerships with organizations internal to Duke, such as the Community Engaged Research Initiative (CERI) of the Duke Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI). Third, the DOC will support the careers of students, postdoctoral fellows, and early-stage investigators, and in collaboration with the Administrative Core, implement strategies to increase the number of staff, students, and investigators from underrepresented groups and the autistic community. To promote diversity in the autism research workforce, we will leverage the CTSI’s Duke-North Carolina Central University (NCCU) Bridge Office to support research collaborations with investigators and trainees at NCCU, a local historically Black university. We will leverage existing ACE, departmental, university, and national initiatives to promote equity and inclusion. Through collaboration with Duke Neurodiversity Connections and the NC Autistic Career Summit, we will support the careers of neurodiverse students. The DOC will also oversee and monitor progress toward our Plan for Enhancing Diverse Perspectives. The DOC will work with the Data Management and Analysis Core (DMAC) to track effectiveness of dissemination activities and diversity trends for staff, learners, faculty, and research participants, and if goals are not being met, will implement new strategies to reach its goals.