Consultation services for investigators
The Community Outreach and Engagement team offers free consultation services to Abramson Cancer Center investigators to help integrate community perspectives into cancer research and facilitate meaningful collaborations.
These consultations provide support for community-engaged research, including assistance with research and clinical trial conceptualization, design, implementation, and dissemination to communities. The team also connects investigators with over 100 community partners, including faith-based and non-faith-based organizations such as the NAACP, consulates from Mexico and Guatemala, Black/African American fraternities and sororities, sports teams like the Sixers, Flyers, and Union, labor unions, Federally Qualified Health Centers, community clinics, and patient advocacy organizations.
Investigators can also request consultations to gather community input on grant proposals, ongoing studies, and completed research. Additionally, the team assists with recruitment efforts for research studies, including clinical trials and biospecimen collection, ensuring that studies are inclusive and representative of the catchment area. The team also facilitates new research inquiries spanning basic science, clinical, translational, and population research that align with community health priorities.
The Community Advisory Board provides further input to shape research that is responsive to community needs and assists in the dissemination of results. Investigators also have access to data resources that help guide research priorities, stratified by disease type, race/ethnicity, and county.
Interested investigators can request a consultation by emailing ACC-COE@upenn.edu.
All manuscripts should acknowledge the Abramson Cancer Center Community Outreach and Engagement team using the following statement: “This work was supported by the Abramson Cancer Center Support Grant from the NCI, P30 CA016520.”
Resources and trainings for community partners and members
Abramson Cancer Center pilot grants
Each year, the Abramson Cancer Center invites proposals for pilot studies from its investigators to address critical cancer research questions that impact the communities in the catchment area. To ensure that research aligns with community needs, community members are recruited as reviewers to join teams of investigators in evaluating grant proposals. Recent pilot studies have focused on cancer burdens such as HPV+ head and neck cancer, lung cancer, brain cancer, pediatric neuroblastoma, and skin cancer.
Cancer Clinical Trials Community Ambassador Training program
The Cancer Clinical Trials Community Ambassador Training Program empowers community members to serve as spokespersons and advocates for cancer clinical trials. The program aims to increase awareness and improve access to clinical trials across Philadelphia’s diverse communities. Patients and community members interested in speaking with an ambassador or undergoing training to become a cancer clinical trials ambassador can contact the Abramson Cancer Center Office of Diversity at 215-349-5007.
Community Partner Human Subjects Protection Training program
In some cases, community partners actively involved in research may be classified as investigators. The activities that qualify a collaborator as an investigator include:
- Interacting or intervening with research participants
- Consenting participants
- Collecting or having access to identifiable data
For community collaborators designated as investigators, human subjects protection training is required. To make this training more accessible, the University of Pennsylvania CEAR Core developed the Community Partner Training program as a community-friendly alternative to traditional certification. This free online training is open to anyone interested in human subjects research and includes:
- Text and audio-based files
- Online activities and short quizzes
- A Certificate of Completion, valid for three years
Developed in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania Office of Regulatory Affairs, Human Research Protections, the Community Partner Training Program is adapted from CIRTification, created by Emily Anderson, PhD, at the University of Illinois at Chicago Center for Clinical and Translational Science.
The Institutional Review Boards of the University of Pennsylvania, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and Thomas Jefferson University have all approved this training for use by community research partners and will accept a Community Partner Training completion certificate in lieu of a CITI training completion certificate for non-University affiliated community research partners.
Access the Community Partner Human Subjects Protection Training Program.
Community-Driven Research Day
Community-Driven Research Day is an annual event that connects community-based organizations with researchers to foster meaningful partnerships in conducting research. Co-sponsored by Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Drexel University, Temple University College of Public Health, La Salle University, Thomas Jefferson University, and the University of Pennsylvania, this half-day event provides a platform for collaboration between academic institutions and community groups.
As part of this initiative, the Community Engagement and Research Core-CPH awards one $10,000 pilot grant each year, along with an additional $10,000 pilot grant from the Community Engagement and Research Core.
For more information, contact PennCPH@pennmedicine.upenn.edu.