Community Academic Partnership Programs

The ST-AHEC Program is well-positioned to continue to facilitate community-engaged research. For nearly 10 years, we have created a vibrant center for promoting community-engaged research focused on health equity and social justice. Our most recent award from Texas DSHS CDC, COVID-19, and Health Disparities, enables our team to continue developing, implementing, and rigorously evaluating new programs for CHWs, which began with supplemental funding from HRSA. Below, we list some projects recently implemented by the Program Office, where we will disseminate the findings, and where community partners were included. Importantly, the 5 Centers continue to partner independently and together in community-engaged projects with academics and many UTHSA population health researchers.

Project ECHO Brain Health Training for Community Health Workers

Project ECHO Brain Health for Community Health Workers (CHWs) is an 8-session program conducted via video conferencing with session lengths ranging from 1.5 – 2 hours each, once per week. Created by researchers, healthcare providers, and CHWs, the curriculum is designed to promote brain health, discuss risk factors for dementia, address challenges experienced by persons who are living with dementia and their families, advocate for family-centered care, identify resources, and address barriers to participation in research. The PI of this program is Sara Masoud, Ph.D.

Creando Conexiones: Establishing a Patient-Centered Cancer Health Equity Research Agenda in South Texas

The Mays Cancer Center (MCC) is the only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center in South Texas. The MCC Community Outreach and Engagement (COE) core is responsible for informing MCC leadership and researchers of South Texas of community-stated needs and influencing the research that occurs at the MCC. The formal inclusion of survivors and caregivers in this process will enhance MCC’s COE structure to support patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER). The first goal of this PCORI-funded project is to develop the Creando Conexiones: Cancer Health Equity Research Agenda that outlines patient-centered CER focus areas identified by South Texas cancer survivors and caregivers and informed by a coalition of MCC stakeholders. The second goal is to identify the infrastructure needs required at MCC to support the focus areas identified in the Creando Conexiones Research Agenda. The PI of this program is Rebecca Jones, Ph.D.

UT Teen Health

UT Teen Health (UTTH) promotes adolescent health and wellness by providing medically accurate sexual health information to the community. Since 2003, UTTH has offered sex education enriched with positive youth development learning experiences for teens in San Antonio, Texas, and surrounding areas. The education is founded on medical, legal, psychological, and socioeconomic information regarding teen sexual activity. Most recently, UT Health San Antonio entered into two cooperative agreements with the Department of Health and Human Services. The program is committed to providing medically accurate, age-appropriate, culturally competent information to the community. Our goals are to support healthy decision-making among adolescents and their families, decrease the high school drop-out rate, and decrease the teen birth rate. The PI of this program is Kristen Plastino, MD.