Chicago Center for Diabetes Translation Research

As a national leader in the support of diabetes translational research that improves population health and health equity for vulnerable populations, the Chicago Center for Diabetes Translation Research aims to expand its membership base, methodologic expertise, and impact by combining the complementary strengths of both University of Chicago and Northwestern University in a collaboratively led, highly synergistic, city-wide core center. Our approach will focus on harmonizing shared and complementary knowledge, technologies, data assets, and partnerships to offer specialized expertise, tools, education, and other forms of support to a large and diverse member base in order to accelerate innovation and maximize beneficial impacts on individual and population health and health equity. Our Center’s leadership and multidisciplinary membership are recognized for a focus on diabetes translational research that improves healthcare access and quality, addresses social determinants of health, and advances health equity for vulnerable populations facing diabetes-related health disparities. Key themes emphasized by our members include community and other stakeholder engagement, novel data linkages and partnerships, mixed methods, and pragmatic interventions that have been designed for sustainable implementation and dissemination. Leveraging shared strengths, our Center will be comprised of: 6 Working Groups (Health Disparities and Minority Populations; Diabetes Prevention; Social Determinants of Health; Organization and Financing of Care; Community Health Centers; Diabetes and Aging); 3 Translational Research Method Cores (Multi-Level Intervention Design & Implementation Science; Research Design, Data, and Analytics; Community Engagement & Health Equity Research); an Enrichment Program that combines an exciting mix of seminars, guest speakers, visiting scientists, consultants, and workshops to improve research knowledge and skills and advance the careers of new investigators; and a Pilot & Feasibility Program that supports innovative diabetes research that aims to translate scientific findings into real-world practice, particularly involving investigators new to diabetes translational research. We also propose an innovative and high impact National Resource Core named “Accelerating Health Equity And Eliminating Diabetes Disparities in Community Health Centers (AHEAD-CHC),” which will be led collaboratively in partnership with AllianceChicago and MidWest Clinicians’ Network and other national partners to expand and support health center-academic partnerships, develop a collaborative diabetes translational research agenda, provide shared resources for health center data management and access, and support communication channels and tools that accelerate the translation of research findings into health center practice. Our Center’s specific aims are: 1) To create an environment that supports innovative and rigorous translational research that informs effective and sustainable health equity approaches for the prevention and management of diabetes by providing core resources that leverage multi-institutional strengths in community-engaged and health equity research, data partnerships and analytic support, and multi-level intervention design and implementation science 2) To extend the impact of rigorous diabetes translational research by organizing expertise and partnerships across Chicago academic institutions and stakeholder groups into working groups and themes, beginning with existing strengths in areas of health disparities in minority popu