NIH grant brings medicine and design together to empower communities

A $37.2 million Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) from the National Institutes of Health to the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine and Cincinnati Children’s is opening new pathways to improve community health by putting design and community voices at the center of translational science. To read the announcement click here. 

The seven-year grant supports the Center for Clinical & Translational Science & Training (CCTST), a partnership between the UC College of Medicine and Cincinnati Children’s, which aims to accelerate the movement of research discoveries into real-world health improvements. A distinctive element of the grant is the expanded role of UC’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP), whose faculty are helping reshape how science is shared, understood and applied in communities.

“This grant is really about understanding community health needs and responding to them in ways that make sense locally,” said Lori Crosby, PsyD, co-lead of the CCTST Community and Stakeholder Engagement program, professor of pediatrics at the UC College of Medicine, and co-director of Innovations in Community Research in the Division of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology at Cincinnati Children’s. “We often describe our work as an accelerator helping research go further, faster and more effectively. Design plays a critical role in that, especially when it comes to dissemination, trust-building and learning from impact.”

Designers from DAAP are working alongside scientists, clinicians and community partners from the earliest stages of research. Rather than serving only as translators at the end of a project, designers are embedded throughout the process, using participatory and co-design approaches to ensure research outcomes are meaningful and usable for the people they are meant to serve.

“We’re not just doing design for research or research for design, we’re doing research through design practice,” said Claudia B. Rebola, PhD, senior associate dean for strategic initiatives and graduate programs at DAAP. “That means creating things for the built environment or for communication, studying how they work in real settings, learning from that impact and then iterating.”

Those strategies range from rethinking how data is visualized and consumed to exploring nontraditional dissemination methods, including systems, products and services tailored to specific audiences. The shared goal is to reduce the average 11-year gap between research discovery and community impact, while inviting labs, teams and individuals across UC to contribute solutions that advance community health.

Central to the grant is a strong community-driven framework. Research priorities are guided by community health needs assessments conducted across Greater Cincinnati, including Cincinnati Children’s assessments focused on child health and regional assessments addressing adult wellness. Key priorities include mental and behavioral health, injury prevention, chronic disease, food insecurity, housing stability and addiction.

“These priorities are identified by community members themselves,” Crosby said. “From there, we convene teams that combine researchers, designers and community partners to decide what solutions to pursue, whether to adopt, adapt or abandon approaches based on evidence and local fit.”

Stacey Gomes, PhD, senior program management specialist for the CCTST Community and Stakeholder Engagement program, emphasized that decision-making power rests with community partners.

“This isn’t about decisions being made in a conference room,” Gomes said. “It’s about listening to communities and working with them to translate research into action. Designers help us think differently about dissemination, which is often treated as an afterthought in research.”

The grant also aligns with a broader learning health system model, where interventions are continuously tested, evaluated and refined. By studying impact and feeding results back into practice, the CCTST aims to create sustainable improvements in health outcomes.

For Trischler, the work is as much about empowerment as it is about information.

“Where you live has a huge impact on your health,” he said. “Design can help get knowledge into the hands of communities so they can advocate for themselves and have agency. Co-design workshops don’t just share health information, they can also teach design skills, which is empowering in itself.”

By uniting medicine, design and community engagement, the CCTST positions Cincinnati as a national leader in translational science that is not only faster, but more broad to ensure research discoveries truly serve the communities they are meant to help.

To learn more about the CCTST and how to access services, please click here.

Featured image at top of stage courtesy of DJ Trischler.