Develop translational research to address complex health challenges
Engage community partners, students, and other collaborators
Design and implement research that addresses community needs
The ANTT Initiative
Enhance research to improve population health
Increase collaboration within the college, university, and our community
Promote and support student success through experiential learning
Affinity Networks
Serve as resource cores to improve college function and promote excellence in research, faculty, staff and student performance
Improve and expand the college’s impact within our communities
Expand the resources within the college and to actively disseminate knowledge
Our Teams and Networks
Translational Teams
Autism
Child Language and Literacy
Cancer Prevention and Control
Craniofacial
Infectious Disease Prevention and
Public Response
Maternal Child Health
Metabolic Health
Movement Disorders
Patient Work
Safety Net Advancement Center
Substance Use
Translational Research in
Psychedelics
Affinity Networks
Athletics
Biomedical Informatics
Dissemination and Implementation
Global Engagement
Health Policy and Equity
Interprofessional Education, Research, and Collaborative
Practice
Multimodal Imaging
Research Coordination and Management
Social Emotional Learning and
Skills
Simulation
Speech Language Pathology
Training
Working collectively Translational Teams
Transdisciplinary
Cross-sector teams of individuals with different expertise, from multiple disciplines, are highly collaborative and innovative. They can address complex problems more effectively.
Translational
The goal is to moves knowledge from discovery to implementation more quickly and produce more meaningful, applicable results that directly benefit human health.
develop new concepts, approaches make knowledge usable & applicable
improve health outcomes
accelerate research into practice
incorporate community needs drive policy change
Involving community partners, industry, governmental agencies, etc.
as active members creates applied, real-world solutions that fit community needs.
Affinity Networks Building capacity and excellence
Enhancing research, teaching, and learning
Networks develop within our college by leveraging the expertise of our faculty, staff, and students. While network members are primarily from within the College of Health Solutions, networks do include other university and community members. Building capacity and excellence is at the heart of what our networks do.
Advancing research methodologies
Developing new technologies
Building capacity and resource cores
Improving college function
Developing best practices in teaching and learning
This year 3 networks were recognized and fully integrated into the college structure, improving research and teaching expertise and effectiveness.
Membership
TranslationalTeams
2023 vs. 2024
Team
Affinity Networks membership growth from 2023
786
Translational Team members
Translational Teams
Membership Affinity Networks
Community partners
Our partners are not just sites of research, but instrumental in identifying and designing research that creates positive impacts in our communities.
Team-Community partnerships have increased 65% in the last year.
community organizations
Community partners Local, state, national reach
International
India
South
Canada
England
Ghana
Vietnam
Nigeria
Making Science Relevant
Bringing together people and ideas creates new, more comprehensive approaches that meet the actual needs of our communities. This empowers innovation and community resilience.
Impacts
Making an impact in our communities
Collaborative programs and projects
Supporting maternal and child health
Improving health care access and reducing the work of patients
Doula Training: evaluate core competencies for doulas to improve maternal health outcomes
Listen to the Villages: Reducing the disease and mortality rates of mothers and newborns
Family Check Up for Health: program for families with children aged 2 to 5 years, on preventing childhood obesity.
Autism and neurodivergent students
Native Health Helping Hands Program: helping 276 community members in Phoenix and Mesa
access the health services they need
Patient Work Narrative Project: digital stories and podcasts of community residents
Employment Assistance and Social Engagement (EASE) Program: peer mentoring to assist with transition to college life and career readiness
Supporting children in learning, literacy, health
Arizona Early Childhood Collaborative Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO): virtual learning program to link professionals to specialists to provide training and support. 104 sessions, 827 participants
Making an impact in our communities
Webinars
Behavioral Health & Primary Care Integration:
Statewide training collaborative for primary care and behavioral health professionals (150 medical, social service and health systems)
How to develop co-location with behavioral health with 911 Emergency Dispatch Centers
Extension for Community Health Outcomes (ECHO): virtual learning
Arizona Early Childhood Collaborative: casebased training linking educational and health professionals on child learning
Building Expertise with Early Childhood
Professionals (BEEP): early intervention training for professionals in medical, educational and child development
TEAM-IPC: addressing the knowledge gap in interprofessional teamwork
Workforce training
Tools
Dyslexia Screener: for use by teachers in classrooms
PRAPARE Screening Tool: patient referral tool
Making an impact in our communities
Collaborative Listening Sessions
Firefighters: Understanding risks, exposures, and health concerns of local firefighters
Cancer Prevention Design Studios: community-engaged sessions resulting in a grant to test at-home prostate screening and Cancer Myths & Facts webinar.
Information
Maternal Child Health Newsletter: reaches 150 community partners
Diagnostic Commons: digital platform designed to provide comprehensive information about testing, diagnostics technologies and strategies for employers in dealing with infectious disease outbreaks
Evidence Commons: interactive repository of COVID-19 test-related research publications for use by employers
Educational outreach
Conferences, Information Sessions, and Webinar Series
Health Talks
Maternal Child Health Conference
Cancer Myths and Facts Session
Digital
Student Impacts
Advancing education and applied research
Community Engagement
Fitness testing and training: Fire Department, Army ROTC, Navy ROTC, National Guard
Native Health Internships
Speech and Learning Clinic
Helping Hands: 30 students engaged
Learning Advancement
Experiential learning: 98 students received credit for applied work
3 courses developed to train students in research, coordination, and professional skills
Experiential Learning Course (credit)
Teaming with Team Science (noncredit): skills and competencies
Research and project coordination for graduate students (non-credit)
Student Training
Athletics Internships: 42 students trained in providing fitness testing, training to high school and college athletes
Virtual Reality (VR) Training: 84 students trained in health-related professional skills
Qualitative Interview Skills Training
RedCap training: graduate students trained in using confidentially-secure data platform
Doctoral student training
ECHO-based student training: 42 students
The work of research: funding, deliverables, and outreach
Deliverables
Funding research
Knowledge creation and innovation to improve the future
Research matters because it provides new insights, discoveries, and solutions to complex health problems. Our teams and networks continually seek out new research opportunities to advance knowledge and then transform research findings into real-world solutions.
In 2024, teams and networks received 22 new research awards, totaling $34,271,369. Focus areas included: pregnancy risks fall prevention in Parkinson’s Disease heat and substance use risk coordination and connection in health care access early childhood mental health a scientist and research training center
Alzheimer’s Disease
autism and aging breast and prostate cancer nutrition and exercise flu vaccine effectiveness infectious disease prevention and surveillance hydration and health outcomes
$11,680,209
Affinity Networks and Translational Teams
Publications 2023 vs. 2024
Translational Teams
Publications 8 Submitted 63 Published / Accepted
Affinity Networks
Publications 3 Submitted 10 Published / Accepted
Scientific publications make knowledge and discoveries available to scientists, professionals, industry leaders and the public. This not only shares information, but also sparks new research findings that can expand our knowledge and lead to additional discoveries. This is crucial to improving health outcomes for all.
Translational Teams and Affinity Networks
Translational Teams Deliverables
Media exposures 2023 vs. 2024
Media outlets
Translational Teams Deliverables
Dissemination events 2023 vs. 2024
Dissemination event types
ECHOs
Project ECHO are virtual learning sessions that connect healthcare experts and specialists in local and rural communities to: educate in best practices, improve health outcomes, increase access to high-quality care
Conferences
Presentations
Workshops
Newsletters
Panel discussions
Sharing information also means finding different venues and formats so that health professionals, government agencies, and community organizations can not only access new information but also learn how to utilize it in their planning and training. Virtual and in-person events offer access to information to those in far-flung areas.
Dissemination events
Arizona Republic
Horizon
Next steps and new directions
Translational Teams and Affinity Networks
Ensuring our teams and networks continue their work
Innovative research and evidence-based solutions require sustained, stable funding over multiple years--to discover, implement, and test. Translational teams require this funding in order to conduct their work. This is a major focus for our teams in the upcoming years.
Teams will need to evolve to meet future needs. We are working to progress specific teams to become independent centers that can generate new research and solutions for all and to incubate new teams as they emerge.
Affinity networks are evolving as well to incorporate their resources and expertise directly into the structure of the college and university. One goal is to incorporate our research-oriented networks into a large resource core to support the university in its ASU Health initiative and in receiving a Clinical and Translational Science Award and regional center designation.
