Our Community

The UMCCTS fosters interactions and collaborations between basic and clinical investigators and community partners, promotes public trust in clinical and translational research, expands the University’s capacity to conduct community-based and dissemination/implementation research, and disseminate research findings among relevant stakeholder groups.  In the last 10 years, UMMS has developed an organizational platform that has taken public service and research to a new level, resulting in productive collaborations with a host of community partners.

UMMS has established itself as a national leader with the 1999 creation of Commonwealth Medicine, which fosters activities with public sector agencies and related partners to translate research evidence into practice and, when appropriate, foster policy change.  Commonwealth Medicine’s resources, infrastructure, and strong ties with State-level governmental agencies provide researchers with a unique and direct link to policymakers. In turn, this creates the potential to have research findings directly and indirectly impact program development and implementation focused on improving the health of Massachusetts citizens.

The Community Engagement Research Core (CERC)

Building upon the statewide success of Commonwealth Medicine and regional community partnerships, UMCCTS is creating a Community Engagement Research Core (CERC).  Through the CERC, existing community partnerships will be fortified and new partnerships will be developed.  CERC functions will facilitate dialogue across the UMass system, between and among university-based investigators and community partners.  The CERC will also enhance the existing infrastructure for unity-based research by building capacity to participate in, contribute to, and develop innovative research ideas, and increase the quality and quantity of collaborations in clinical and translational research.

CERC Leadership