Community Engagement, Recruitment and Retention (CERR) Core D

SUMMARY/ABSTRACT: Community Engagement, Recruitment, and Retention Core D
The Community Engagement, Recruitment and Retention (CERR) Core will design, implement and
evaluate innovative and effective strategies for community engagement, recruitment, and retention of
participants in the Precision Aging Network (PAN). Using social media and evidence-based community
engagement strategies, the CERR Core will launch a campaign that will enable the recruitment of a large and
diverse cohort (Project 1, MC-Catchment, 350,000 individuals) for internet-based assessments. 100,000 of
these participants will be recruited into an expanded study that includes additional cognitive testing and survey
questions (Project 1, MC-Expanded). The CERR Core will facilitate the efforts required for the recruitment
and retention into this aspect as well. Additionally, the CERR Core will work with Project 2 to recruit and retain
participants in four geographic locations – Tucson, Baltimore, Atlanta, and Miami – for extensive in-person
assessments (Project 2, 1,620 individuals). The CERR Core will use virtual and in-person approaches to
retain a multiethnic longitudinal cohort (n = 50,000 for Project 1, MC-Longitudinal) and a diverse cohort (n =
1000 for Project 2-Longitudinal). The CERR Core will monitor and evaluate outcomes from different
approaches to optimize methods for recruiting underrepresented groups in human health studies.
The CERR Core will use culturally-optimized methods to develop a national campaign, partnering with
community advisory boards and stakeholders, to support the long-term goals of the PAN and the specific aims
of the Projects in this application. We will also increase community awareness regarding the science of
cognitive aging, Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and AD-related dementias (ADRD) by engaging the community,
our partners, and the next generation of researchers including student ambassadors. In this way, the
CERR Core will contribute to the advancement of cognitive aging and dementia research by increasing
participation of under-represented populations in one of the largest U.S. cohort studies ever created.

Grant Number: 5U19AG065169-05
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: Zhao Chen