Projects

COmmuNity eNgagEment for building Capacity, Trust, and Ownership of Research (CONNECTOR

CONNECTOR is the name of the community engagement resource center managed by a team from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. This team will be led by Vasan Ramachandran, M.D., FAHA, professor and founding dean of the University of Texas School of Public Health San Antonio and the Frank Harrison, M.D., Ph.D. distinguished chair in public health. Key activities will include supporting the network teams to identify, evaluate and manage community-based solutions for fighting heart disease that match what people think they need and are willing to support to bring about local changes for better health. This will include training the next generation of students on how they can work in communities and learn from and with the people in those communities to bring about change. Additionally, the team will share key learnings of the research projects.

  • Project Overview and Aims::  
    • Aim 1A: Establish the HERN Infrastructure and provide professional and facilitative leadership, organization, and integration 
    • Aim 1B: Provide scientific standards and support for Community Engaged Research protocols, coordination, analysis, and research evaluation 
    • Aim 2: Build a pipeline of diverse Community Engaged Health Equality researchers through research skills development, mentored experiences, and coaching in public health leadership.
    • Aim 3: Create an open-access Community Engaged Research/Community Interventions information hub for knowledge and meta-synthesis, and advocate for multisectoral policies 

The three targeted research projects, which began on July 1, 2024 and run for five years, include:

CONNECTOR Team in Greenville, SC
The American Heart Association’s Strategic Network Annual Meeting September 8-10, 2025 at the Omni Hotel in Dallas, Texas. Photo by Nick Agro
UTHSCSA Group
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