Objectives/Goals: The CHIRP program aims to promote community-driven research on local health priorities, strengthen community–academic partnerships, and build capacity for sustainable and fair research through education, training, and mentoring, while supporting CTSA’s mission to advance translational science. Methods/Study Population: CHIRP, funded by NCATS/CCTS, supports community/academic partnered teams to conduct impactful research in community or clinical settings. Selected projects have undergone a competitive application process: eligibility screening by the CHIRP team, a panel review by both community and academic partners, and scoring using a 9-point NIH system. After final approval by CCTS leadership, selected teams consisting of at least one community partner and one academic partner participate in a mandatory 2-day Proposal Development Retreat where they receive training and resources to further refine their proposal. Upon IRB approval, teams receive funding of up to 20, 000 and mentorship from experts during the grant period to support implementation of the proposed project. Results/Anticipated Results: Since its inception, CHIRP has funded 20 academic teams in 3 CTSA regions of Texas (Houston, Northeast Texas, and Rio Grande Valley) in partnership with 20 community organizations such as public schools, faith-based organizations, and community-based health provider organizations, providing 380, 000 funding for clinical research or initiatives on health promotion and disease prevention strategies driven by community need. The program resulted in 10 peer-reviewed articles, 15 conference presentations, and multiple community forums. Currently, CHIRP is supporting its fifth cohort of fellows who completed the Proposal Development Retreat and a majority reported being “Very Satisfied” with the training. Discussion/Significance of Impact: The CHIRP model supports community–academic partnerships to drive translational research. The model has application for other sites wanting to train and support community-engaged research and strengthen the translational research pipeline.
McNeill et al. (Wed,) studied this question.