Innovation Report Problem

To effectively translate scientific discoveries into improvements in individual and population health, community representatives should be involved in all stages of clinical and translational research.1,2 Community involvement can increase the quality and relevance of research,3 yet enhancing public participation in research is one of the central challenges facing clinical research enterprises.4 Engaging patients and consumers in research is complex, and current rigorous research training programs generally do not prepare researchers to identify, recruit, and convene stakeholders or prepare them for participation in research.5 Without appropriate training or experience, attempts to facilitate community and patient engagement are often ineffective and burdensome and leave stakeholders feeling disenfranchised.6 Becoming proficient in community and stakeholder engagement requires training and hands-on experience, which may take years. Consequently, researchers without prior experience have limited options for engaging stakeholders in their research. The infrastructure and incentives at many academic health centers are not well aligned to support community engagement. Significant gaps still exist in the methods used to engage communities in research, and the process is often resource intensive and time consuming.6,7 To address investigators ’ need for eliciting meaningful patient and community engagement, we developed the Community Engagement Studio (CE Studio), which provides a structured method for obtaining input from stakeholders to enhance the design, conduct, and dissemination of research