Integrating Special Populations Program | ISP

Using engineering principles to improve human health.

Focusing on broad-based, sustainable outcomes that influence health policy in underserved populations MACHE utilizes the resources of the faculty and staff of the Wake Forest School of Medicine and collaborative partners to continually work to improve health equity outcomes.

The Integrating Special Populations (ISP) Program of the MACHE and the Clinical and Translation Science Institute (CTSI) aims to assist WFBMC investigators by increasing involvement of special populations in clinical studies. The program especially encourages research opportunities for:

Older adults (65 years of age and older)
Children and adolescents (17 years of age and younger)
Underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities

The goal of the ISP program is to offer services to support clinical studies in the inclusion of special populations to:

Meet the health needs of patients across diverse populations.
Increase knowledge about the extent to which different subgroups might respond to prevention.
Diagnose and treat diseases and assure the safety and effectiveness of prevention.

Services

Over the last decade, the Maya Angelou Center for Health Equity (MACHE) at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center (WFBMC) has developed and implemented large-scale outreach programs targeting racial and ethnic minorities and older adults. These efforts, using well established strategies and expertise, have supported numerous clinical trials to improve health care in these under-studied groups.

Our well-established strategies include research-focused services:

Research Participant Navigation	Voucher Program	Consultation Services
Research Participant Navigation services supports non-English speaking participants in studies, playing a key role as a liaison between the research team and the subject, assisting in screening, recruitment and consenting of participants, patient management. Additionally navigators also help non-English speaking participants throughout the research process through continuous interpreting, networking, and emotional support.	Studies that identify a financial need can request funds from the voucher program to help overcome barriers related to transportation, child care, and study advertisement, for example. You can view voucher guidelines here.	Consultation Services provides feedback on recruitment strategies for including special populations and reviews and advises on advertisement materials and media outlets. The MACHE team also provides feedback related to diversity sensitivity and offers strategies to increase the interest of special populations to participate in research.
Language Services	Community Outreach & Education	Be Involved en Español
Language Services supports studies through document translation, on-site interpretation and the use of the Video Remote Interpreting system, which connects participants (and their family members) with live, on-demand interpreters for 20 spoken languages, including American Sign Language.	Community Outreach and Education was established to create a presence in the community by participating in community events to educate the general public about the importance of participating in research, and to network with other community organizations to promote research participation.	The Be Involved en Español project advertises in Spanish for studies that are specifically trying to recruit Hispanics. Studies that are part of the Be Involved en Español project have access to all MACHE services and have access to bilingual research staff to seamlessly include Spanish-speaking participants. Visit the Be Involved website

Impact

Don’t just take our word for it. Check out what faculty are saying about our services:

"I am very thankful for the MACHE ISP voucher program. It has been essential to the recruitment and retention of the participants in our nutrition group for pregnant women. Our participants are underserved and require such amenities as childcare and transportation to be able to attend a program that is after school and not located in their neighborhoods.

"Having funds to provide our participants with food to take home to recreate the wholesome meals that we make in the session is key to encouraging the women to return to subsequent classes.

"Finally, and probably most importantly, is the ability of our interpreter (Mariana) to use a microphone that is wirelessly connected to headsets that each woman wears so that they can understand the lesson without any delay. This has really allowed us to create a feeling of intimacy in our sessions where Spanish-speaking women don’t have to “wait” for translation but can catch all the social nuances and humor in the moment."

Lisa Cassidy-Vu, MD
Assistant Professor, Family Medicine,
Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center

Community Programs

Learn more how ISP is collaborating to expand the surrounding community’s capacity to be better engaged with research.

Leadership

	Capri Foy, PhD Associate Director, Integrating Special Populations
	Goldie S. Byrd, PhD Director, Maya Angelou Center for Health Equity
	Allison Caban-Holt, PhD Associate Director, Maya Angelou Center for Health Equity
	Kimberly Montez, MD, MPH Associate Director, Pediatrics
	Laura McDuffee Assistant Project Manager

Regulatory

Quick Links

Sponsored Research

Quick Links

Helpful Resources

Integrating Special Populations Program | ISP

Services

Research Participant Navigation

Voucher Program

Consultation Services

Language Services

Community Outreach & Education

Be Involved en Español

Impact

Don’t just take our word for it. Check out what faculty are saying about our services:

Community Programs

Triad Pastoral Network

Alzheimer’s Disease Research

COVID-19 Community Leadership Council

NC Brain Health Registry

Leadership

Capri Foy, PhD

Goldie S. Byrd, PhD

Allison Caban-Holt, PhD

Kimberly Montez, MD, MPH

Laura McDuffee

Program in Community-Engaged Research | PCER

Maya Angelou Center for Health Equity