Health Information Outreach 172: Augusta University

The program is to build awareness about the importance of how participating in clinical research studies can bring about better therapies for diseases. We will briefly outline the research process, and then describe how participatory research is changing how research is done - doing research with, rather than to, research subjects. We will briefly discuss how data science and the National Institutes of Health's precision medicine research program are examples of newer approaches to include 95, underrepresented, or ignored populations in the community in clinical research studies. A recent program sponsored by Augusta University about Henrietta Lacks was well received and attended so there is local interest in medical research topics. A larger amount of time will be spent demonstrating how to find disease and drug information in MedlinePlus, and then to a lesser extent, how ClinicalTrials.gov can locate studies and how PubMed Health seeks to inform about the effectiveness of therapies. This program will be coordinated with Federally Qualified Health Centers and public libraries located in 98, 97, and 95 settings as either a standalone program or part of other public outreach events. Participation in the annual Greater Augusta Healthcare Network meeting and symposium will bring the precision research message of to FQHCs, hospitals, and public health leaders in the Augusta region. Equipment will be needed to present the program and also for participating FQHCs and libraries to showcase the National Library of Medicine databases to the public.