Associate Professor Jaclynn Hawkins and her team have received a $1.83 million grant from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) for their project, “Comparing Peer‑Led Collaborative Engagement (PLCE) and Traditional Researcher‑Led Engagement (TRLE).”
During the next 36 months, the team will: co-develop a peer-led collaborative engagement method grounded in lived experience and community priorities; test PLCE head‑to‑head against traditional researcher‑led engagement in a randomized, multi-site, mixed‑methods study; and measure engagement quality and trust, and translate what they learn into practical tools research teams can use to build stronger, more effective partnerships.
“Too often, research is designed about communities rather than with them — especially when it comes to groups that have been excluded in research. When engagement isn’t authentic, we lose trust, participation, and ultimately the quality and relevance of the evidence that patients and communities deserve,” said Hawkins. “Our goal is to generate actionable evidence on how to build and sustain meaningful engagement—so patient-centered research is more representative, more trustworthy and more useful for real-world decision-making.”
