The Community-Engaged Research Center (CERC) is committed to improving community health by facilitating collaborative research partnerships that include Chicago-area organizations, community-based clinicians and Northwestern University academic partners. One of five centers of the Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, the Community-Engaged Research Center is a key contributor to its mission of translational research, ensuring that advances from the bench to the bedside benefit the Chicago-area community and result in lasting improvements in community health. Through its Community-Based Participatory Research Program and Practice Based Research Program, seminar series, visiting professorships, research workshops and other means, CERC fosters increased involvement of community and academic partners in community engaged research. The Community-Engaged Research Center receives ongoing support and guidance from two important advisory groups, the Northwestern University Community Engagement Council, and the External Advisory Committee. Through these groups, the Center seeks to receive important input and feedback from the University community and its affiliates, as well as from organizations and leaders in the field. In addition, these groups assist the Center in advancing its mission.
The Center’s Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) Program supports and promotes engaged research between Chicago community organizations and academic partners that respects community input and builds upon the strengths of involving community partners in all aspects of research. The program’s goals and objectives are jointly defined by a steering committee comprised of representatives from community organizations and faculty and staff from NUCATS. The program is committed to enhancing the knowledge and facilitating the translation of research into improved community health and developing long-term relationships with community groups that reflect a shared commitment to collaborative research that is mutually beneficial to all partners involved.
The Practice-Based Research Program fosters collaborative research between community-based practitioners and Northwestern University full-time faculty. The program provides assistance and coordinates activities across Northwestern's three primary care, practice-based research networks: The Pediatric Practice Research Group (PPRG), directed by faculty at Children’s Memorial Hospital, the Research and Education for Academic Achievement (REACH) Network, directed by Chicago campus faculty in the Feinberg School of Medicine Division of General Internal Medicine and by Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Network faculty in the Department of Family Medicine. Katherine Kaufer Christoffel, MD, MPH, serves as the Director of the Community-Engaged Research Center. Dr. Christoffel is a professor of pediatrics and preventive medicine and deputy director of the Feinberg School of Medicine’s (FSM) Programs in Public Health. Virginia Bishop MD, MPH, and Jen Kauper-Brown, MPH serve as the co-directors of the Community-based Participatory Research Program. Dr. Bishop is an assistant professor of Preventive Medicine and coordinator for professional experiences in the FSM’s Masters in Public Health Program. Josefina Alvarez and Gina Curry are the community networkers for the CBPR program. Helen Binns, MD, MPH and Adolfo Ariza, MD, MPH serve as the co-directors of the Practice-Based Research Program. Dr. Binns is an assistant professor of pediatrics and preventive medicine and the director of the Pediatric Practice Research Group; Dr. Ariza is a research assistant professor in the department of pediatrics. David Baker, MD, MPH is the chief of General Internal Medicine at FSM and the director of the REACH practice based research network, and Abel Kho, MD, is the Assistant Director of the REACH Network, based at the Northwestern General Internal Medicine Practice in Chicago. Joe Feinglass, PhD is a Research Professor and Kenzie Cameron, PhD, MPH is a Research Assistant Professor in the REACH network. Tom Gavagan, MD, is the director of the Evanston Northwestern Healthcare practice based research network. Michelle Melin-Rogovin, MA is the Center Manager for the Community-Engaged Research Center. For more information about CERC, please contact Michelle Melin-Rogovin at m-melin-rogovin@northwestern.edu or call 312-503-5050. | 
