The Bench to Community Initiative : A community-based participatory research model for translating research discoveries into community solutions

Abstract

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) has been shown to be an effective methodology for translating research findings into community solutions. CBPR is known by many names including participatory action research, community-based research, and community-to-bench model 1,2. Despite the variations in terminology, the principles of CBPR require collaboration or partnership between the community and the academy across the research continuum. Israel et al. define CBPR as active involvement of community members from research conceptualization to dissemination of findings with a focus on reducing social and environmental inequities through interventions and policy change3. The Bench to Community Initiative embodies the principles of CBPR. We engage stakeholders across multiple disciplines with the goal of disseminating interventions to reduce Black women’s breast cancer risk associated with exposure to harmful chemicals in personal care products.

Parabens Promote Pro-Tumorigenic Effects in Luminal Breast Cancer Cell Lines with Diverse Genetic Ancestry

“…The current laboratory study is a part of the Bench to Community Initiative [66] which was initiated in response to community stakeholder questions about the biological effects of chemicals found in commonly used products by Black women. BCI is composed…”

“…The current laboratory study is a part of the Bench to Community Initiative [66] which was initiated in response to community stakeholder questions about the biological effects of chemicals found in commonly used products by Black women. BCI is composed of multidisciplinary collaborators bringing together basic researchers in endocrinology (Treviño), social-behavioral science (Teteh), and community stakeholders (D. Bing Turner, MPH, Maggie Hawkins, MPH, CHES, Tiah Tomlin-Harris, MS, and Tonya Fairley, Licensed Trichologist).…”