Development of Investigators Supporting Community Outreach and Value of Engagement in health disparities Research (DISCOVER)

PROJECT SUMMARY – INVESTIGATOR DEVELOPMENT CORE Reducing and ultimately eliminating health disparities depends on the success of investigators’ ability to discover, engage, innovate, and educate in close collaboration with the communities they serve. Purposeful investigator development, formal mentoring infrastructure, and center-wide practices that promote multidisciplinary training,

community engagement, and results dissemination are required to build an interprofessional cohort of health disparities scholars. In the Georgetown P50 Center for Excellence, Development of Investigators Supporting Community Outreach and Value of Engagement in health disparities Research, called DISCOVER, we

will address the striking health disparities in the Washington DC metropolitan area, focusing on three distinct areas: cancer, stroke, and maternal health. In collaboration with the Administrative Core (AC) and the Community Engagement and Dissemination Core (CEDC), DISCOVER’s Investigator Development Core (IDC) will 1)

implement research and community engagement training for early career investigators (defined as postdoctoral fellows and early career faculty) related to multidisciplinary health disparities research, 2) provide pilot funding to accelerate investigators’ health disparities research, and 3) promote investigators’

professional development through structured and inclusive mentoring programs. Guided by the National Institute of Minority and Health Disparities Research Framework, we will harness the robust research infrastructure at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) to spark innovation, collaboration, and

development of early career investigators to conduct rigorous and impactful health disparities research. DISCOVER will support health disparities research across various disciplines, seeking to bring together different perspectives to move beyond research that describes disparities to research that addresses disparities. We build

on strengths in health disparities research in cancer, stroke and maternal health across GUMC and our academic health system partner, MedStar Health. In this proposal we will implement a multidisciplinary approach to longitudinal investigator development to create and sustain a culture of health disparities research excellence.

In Aim 1, we will implement research and community engagement training for early career investigators to lead and sustain multidisciplinary health disparities research and engage with the community. In Aim 2 we will provide

pilot funding to accelerate investigators’ health disparities research, while in Aim 3 we will promote investigators’ professional advancement through structured and inclusive mentoring programs. DISCOVER will launch a cadre of talented early career investigators who conduct health disparities research in close collaboration with the

communities they serve.