Scientific advances are essential for improvements in health status and health care. Yet increasingly, there is recognition that the public, particularly underserved and minority communities, are distrustful of research and research institutions and are demanding a greater role in research participation, not only as traditional "study subjects" but as stakeholders who are engaged in the research process. Therefore, community engagement in research has evolved to become an essential component of fostering public trust in research as well as a means of accelerating and sustaining the translation of scientific advances to clinical practice and communities. Engagement of the general public, community providers, elected officials and academicians in research and translation is essential to accelerate discovery, application of results, and community benefit. In Maryland, a model exists which mobilizes stakeholders at multiple levels in partnerships to address tobacco related disease through research and translation. Since 2000, Maryland has implemented and leveraged several key initiatives through its Cigarette Restitution Fund Program.

This lecture will discuss a Maryland model for engaging the general public, academicians and policymakers as partners in a comprehensive program focusing on tobacco related disparities research and translation.

Dr. Claudia R. Baquet, Associate Dean for Policy and Planning at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, serves as an advocate for better health care, including issues relating to health needs and models for underserved communities, telemedicine, and rural health initiatives. Dr. Baquet also serves as Director of the NIH-supported EXPORT Center at the University of Maryland Comprehensive Center for Health Disparities. Throughout her government and academic careers, she has been a champion of issues related to health disparities and the underserved and is considered a leading national expert on cancer in minority and low-income populations.

Dr. Baquet served as the Associate Director for the Cancer Control Science Program and Director of the Special Populations Research Branch at the National Cancer Institute for 8 years and as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health at the U.S. Public Health Service. In her NCI roles, Dr. Baquet conducted research on cancer rates in special populations and developed intervention research trials on cancer screening and early detection, as well as tobacco use, prevention, cessation, and other interventions related to minorities and underserved whites.

For more information, visit
http://crchd.cancer.gov/cnp/pi-baquet.html

The NIH Director's Wednesday Afternoon Lecture Series includes weekly scientific talks by some of the top researchers in the biomedical sciences worldwide.