Connect

Translational research in health service and public health settings focuses on facilitating the adoption, implementation, and sustainability of evidence-based programs, policies and practices in community settings. This is the essence of our work.

The stated vision of U-TuRN is to ‘enable healthy lives by empowering communities to take action informed by science,’ but we recognize that solutions will only have lasting impact if we 1) build and support the infrastructure needed to facilitate community / campus partnerships, and 2) rigorously evaluate the adoption, implementation, and sustainability of such partnerships to support lasting changes.

The associated framework depicts a logic model for how we work to achieve this vision. A strength of our model is the integration of researchers with various arms of the ISU Extension and Outreach system to promote the dissemination of evidence-based programming.

The shared interest in community-engagement also spawned a campus-wide group called the Community Engagement Collective. The group shares a commitment to transdisciplinary partnerships between researchers and community stakeholders to enable shared learning and mutually beneficial collaboration.

Whether you are a faculty member, staff, community partner, or student, you can be a part of the U-TuRN Translational Research Network! Check out our Community Engagement Collective to learn more about opportunities available to you.