Translational research aims to bridge the gap between researchers and the community. Translational researchers include community members in the research process, often from the beginning to the sharing of the results and translating them into useful interventions.
Translational health research often includes specialists with different areas of expertise, from biologists to public health researchers, as well as community members with different backgrounds, from roles in government and community-based organizations, to individuals with an interest in research. Translational health research includes “Gap-Narrowing” and “Bench to Bedside” approaches. “Gap-Narrowing” practices aim to improve access, reorganize and coordinate healthcare systems and patient behaviors. For example, professors of public health, heath psychologists and economists might work with local stakeholders to study violence prevention or environmental risks. “Bench to Bedside” practices (from biologists’ and engineers’ workbenches to patients’ bedsides) result in new drugs, devices and treatment for patients. Solutions go beyond bedsides as well, often resulting in policy changes to improve communities’ health.1
Based on techniques and resources developed in the air quality study the translational research group (TRG) is now in a position to:
- Engage the community through a community advisory board
- Develop community engaged studies
- Recruit community samples
- Disseminate findings to the community
1. Woolf, S. H. (2008). The meaning of translational research and why it matters. Jama, 299(2), 211-213.
