Tufts Clinical and Translational Science Institute

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Project Abstract Maria Rodriguez Berrios ND is a promising early investigator with a focus on translational research addressing health disparities and community based participatory research. As a Latina investigator from Puerto Rico, she is committed to research that is broadly stakeholder engaged to eliminate health disparities. This diversity supplement will provide her the training and support through Tufts CTSI to reach her training goals. The training goals of the proposed investigator are well aligned with the overall aims and the community engagement and the research resources aims of Tufts CTSI: Overall AIM 1: Create an environment, resources, and services to stimulate and support the full spectrum of clinical and translational research (CTR) by leveraging the diverse expertise and assets of Tufts CTSI partners. Overall AIM 2: Cultivate broadly-engaged team science, actively including stakeholders, to promote relevant and impactful translation for diverse populations and across the lifespan. Overall AIM 3: Develop, demonstrate, and disseminate innovations in methods, research process improvement, and evaluation, to advance CTR locally and nationally. Overall AIM 4: Advance methods and performance of multi-site clinical trials, within the Tufts CTSI Clinical Research Network (CRN), the NCATS Trial Innovation Network, and in other multi-institutional networks. Overall AIM 5: Provide outstanding education, training, and mentoring, tailored to different roles and disciplines, to advance a diverse CTR workforce, and share these resources nationally. The candidate will utilize the resources of Tufts CTSI beginning with the training available through the Clinical and Translational Sciences graduate program. Using the skills she gains in the graduate program, she will conduct a data analysis to understand the impact of multiple risk factors, including novel risk factors of acculturation and discrimination on cancer screening and cancer prevention behaviors. This work, including community participants from African American, Chinese American, Latino, and Appalachian communities, will provide a broad perspective on the impact of location and racial/ethnic diversity and these novel risk factors on cancer prevention behaviors, and will provide targets for potential novel interventions to address cancer risk behaviors. Dr. Rodriguez Berrios will benefit from the resources of Tufts CTSI to achieve her research training aims, and prepare her for an independent research career. She will engage with the Stakeholder and Community Engagement Resource, the Clinical Translational Research Center, and the Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Research Design resources for experiential learning, and couple this with the formal training in the Clinical Translational Science Graduate Program and the mentorship of the Tufts CTSI PI and KL2 PI in order to develop the skills in broadly engaged team science.