Rural populations face unique health challenges, due in part to poverty, isolation and limited access to health care. Appalachian Kentucky, a largely rural population, presents an extreme version of these challenges. Kentucky is one of the unhealthiest states in this country (44th in 2010), with the highest cancer mortality rate in the country, the highest rates for poor physical health and poor mental health, the second highest rates for heart attacks and cardiovascular disease, along with very high rates for diabetes and preterm births (source: United Health Foundation).

The overall goal of the CCTS Community Engagement is to connect three communities – the academic community, the professional practice community, and the lay community – as sources of research ideas, as partners in research engagement, and as sites for the conduct of and training in clinical and translational research. This process will transform existing mechanisms and provide new programs to effectively engage these communities in the circularity of translation, and thereby dramatically accelerate the movement of basic discoveries validated in clinical trials to tangible improvements in the health and well-being of the people of Kentucky and across the country.

To learn more about the CCTS Community Engagement, please visit the links below.

UK Centers for Rural Health

Research and Engagement for Advancing Community Health (REACH)

Practice-Based Research Networks (PBRNs)

Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR)