Melody Goodman, PhD, assistant professor of surgery and faculty adviser for PECaD, received an award from Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) and will be the principal investigator for the project, Developing and Validating Quantitative Measures to Assess Community Engagement in Research: Addressing the Measurement Challenge. Dr. Goodman’s award is a three-year project for $1 million dollars. This research study will focus on validating, testing, and implementing a survey tool to assess the level of stakeholder engagement in patient-centered outcomes research and comparative effectiveness research studies. Dr. Goodman’s research team will conduct stakeholder engaged mix-methods (qualitative and quantitative) research. Dr. Goodman is a PECaD faculty adviser and has helped in training over 100 community members in the Community Research Fellows Training program. PECaD congratulates Dr. Goodman on her research award!
Bettina Drake, PhD, MPH, associate professor of surgery and a faculty adviser for PECaD and the Prostate Cancer Community Partnership, is part of a $10.5 million grant from the National Institutes for Health that have funded the Pancreas Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) at Washington University School of Medicine. Dr. Drake is part of the administrative core for the SPORE and will be in charge of minority recruitment into clinical trials. Dr. Drake’s research interests are reducing disparities in cancer by focusing on cancer-prevention strategies through nutritional and community-based approaches. By increasing minority participation in clinical trials through the pancreas SPORE, Dr. Drake will be increasing knowledge and research in minority populations in relation to specific cancer sites. With PECaD, Dr. Drake helps advise and lead the Prostate Cancer Community Partnership to help increase prostate cancer screening and awareness in African-American men in the St. Louis region. PECaD congratulates Dr. Drake on her role and funding in the pancreas SPORE!