WREN team from left: Denise Grossman, Lisa Sampson, Alyssa Turnquist, Nathaniel Javid, Alice Yuroff, Sarina Schrager, Keelin McHugh, Mary Henningfield, and Meagan Sulikowski.
The Wisconsin Research and Education Network (WREN) at the University of Wisconsin Department of Family Medicine and Community Health (DFMCH) is now part of a groundbreaking pilot program developed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The Communities Advancing Research Equity (CARE) for Health™ initiative aims to integrate research into clinical care and community settings, striving to improve health outcomes for all regardless of race, ethnicity, income, or zip code.
The CARE for Health™ award designates WREN as one of three primary care research network hubs nationwide. This initiative seeks to expand the network, integrate innovative research with routine clinical care, support primary care-based clinical research, engage underrepresented communities, and implement suitable study designs for primary care settings. Initial awards are focused on serving rural communities.
The principal investigators are Sarina Schrager, MD, MS, Mary Henningfield, PhD, and Earlise Ward, PhD, LP, HSP from the DFMCH, and Yao Liu, MD, MS, director of the Teleophthalmology program at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.
“As part of the CARE for Health™ initiative, WREN will leverage existing relationships with rural clinics to increase opportunities for community members to participate in and provide input on clinic trials to improve health outcomes for their communities. This work is critical to the goals of the initiative to establish a foundation for sustained engagement with communities underrepresented in clinical research, including people who live in rural environments,” says Henningfield, associate director of WREN.
Founded in 1987, WREN is one of the oldest and most respected practice-based research networks in the nation. The mission of WREN to promote and conduct primary care research and education in partnership with primary care clinicians and the communities they serve aligns with the goals of CARE for Health™ to improve access to clinical research to inform medical care. Building on its decades-long history of productive, high-quality research and quality improvement projects in rural communities, WREN is well poised to serve as a Rural Network Research Hub.
“We eagerly anticipate collaborating with our local partners – primary care providers and patient communities – to tackle the health challenges they identify as most pressing,” said NIH Director Dr. Monica M. Bertagnolli. “These awards will lay the groundwork for primary care-focused clinical research, creating opportunities for people to engage in research that matters to them right where they receive their care.”
CARE for Health™ is part of the NIH Common Fund under Other Transactions Agreement number OT2OD038373. The NIH Common Fund supports cross-cutting programs expected to have exceptionally high impact. This is the first round of CARE for Health™ funding issued by NIH.
Learn more about WREN and the CARE for Health Initiative.
Published: September 2024 | Updated November 2024 with WREN team photo.