Watch the webinar: Taking Responsibility for Building a Trustworthy Research Enterprise 

Overview

The Integrating Underrepresented Populations in Research Program (IUPR) aims to create a culture and environment that prioritizes the inclusion of underserved and underrepresented populations from laboratory-based scientific discovery to health policy and practice. IUPR promotes the inclusion of underrepresented populations in all aspects of research, from study conception through dissemination.

Mission

Our mission is to help ensure that research is used to prevent unnecessary and unjust differences in health outcomes. We believe this is best done using an open, transparent, and collaborative process.

Our Goals

  • Identify and create evidence-based tools and innovative strategies to aid research teams with recruiting and retaining study participants from underrepresented populations.
  • Create partnerships with communities designed to identify and prioritize health research questions of most relevance to them.

Who is eligible?

Research team members at Tufts CTSI partner institutions are eligible for IUPR-related services. There are also services available to community stakeholders and potential study participants.

Services

IUPR consultation services provide tailored guidance and mentoring on strategies for inclusion of underrepresented populations in all aspects of clinical and translational research to:

  1. Work with communities to prioritize their needs and facilitate community-driven research projects.
  2. Advise research teams on how to incorporate stakeholder input in study designs to promote inclusion of children, elderly, and other underrepresented populations.
  3. Advise research teams on evidence-based and state-of-the-art methods to ensure participant enrollment that reflects the demographics of the condition under study.

Pilot Studies and Community Health Catalysts grant programs may be used to help support the development of innovative approaches to recruitment and retention of underrepresented populations.

We will offer knowledge-building events, skill-building workshops and online training modules for research teams, community stakeholders, and potential study participants.

Contact

To contact us, please submit a service request.

Sara C. Folta, PhD, Director, Integrating Underrepresented Populations in Research

Linda B. Hudson, ScD, MSPH, Associate Director, Integrating Underrepresented Populations in Research; Director, Collaboration for Research Equity, Sustainability, and Trust (CREST)

Binta Barry, MS, Senior Project Manager, Integrating Underrepresented Populations in Research

Angelique Santiago, MS/MA, Research Project Coordinator II, Integrating Underrepresented Populations in Research