Addressing the burden of multiple chronic diseases in Chicagoland will require partnerships between investigators and residents, community organizations and healthcare organizations that have local knowledge. Innovative local solutions are necessary to bridge gaps in the healthcare system, gaps in the traditional approach to delivering preventive and management services, and gaps generated by the traditional siloed approach to science. Despite the presence of multiple major health care systems, many patients living with multiple chronic conditions do not have ready access to high quality care. This has required safety net systems such as County Care and Federally Qualified Health Centers to fill the gap in ambulatory care in primary care health professional shortage areas. Within ambulatory practices, the traditional model of care addresses the needs of an individual patient with one condition at a time with further segmentation of care by medical specialty. Research, even T4 translational research, is typically oriented around individual organ systems rather than the experiences of people.

The Chicago Chronic Conditions Engagement Network (C3EN) will address these gaps by strengthening and building collaborations across community-based organizations, practice networks, and academic researchers, by promoting a comprehensive approach to the prevention and management of multiple chronic conditions and by supporting interventions that actively seek to cross boundaries of disease-specific management, professional training, community and practice. This network will be the communication channel for multi-directional exchange of ideas regarding how to address the burden of chronic conditions in communities, the community-based research network where both pilot studies and larger regional studies of scalable interventions will take place, and the training ground for new investigators. Our research projects have been selected to demonstrate our scientific thematic interest in promoting a comprehensive view of health that acknowledges the importance of physical, psychological, and social functioning as outcomes as well as potential avenues for health improvement.

The C3EN will benefit from a foundation of multiple institutes and centers at the University of Chicago (UC) and Rush University Medical Center that set the stage for conducting interdisciplinary research aligned with public health goals of the Chicago region, inter-institutional collaboration, and models for training programs. The Institute for Translational Medicine is a research partnership of UC and Rush along with 4 other different academic medical centers and systems and serves as the starting point for the Chicago regional community-based research network. UC and Rush are also the home of multiple NIH Centers focusing on diabetes, cancer, HIV, opioid use, and dementia. C3EN will have unprecedented access to scientific expertise and core services from these centers and have the unique scientific charge of identifying the shared and unique opportunities for preventing and mitigating multiple vs. individual chronic conditions.

Our Center's Specific Aims are:

1. To build a Chicago regional community-based research network based on collaborations with stakeholders including community-based organizations, networks of ambulatory practices, and academic institutions, to identify innovative, effective, and scalable interventions that reduce the burden of multiple chronic conditions.

2. To provide cutting edge research support and expertise (intersectoral health, informatics, implementation science, community-resource referral software systems, remote sensor technology) to facilitate chronic condition health research conducted across practice networks, in community settings, and in the home.

3. To attract and support investigators who are new to research of multiple chronic conditions by providing education, training, mentoring, support for community and stakeholder engagement, pilot grant funding, and access to research support services.

For medical students and trainees, the aims of participation in C3EN will be to 1) evaluate the content of the Community Stakeholder Advisory Council Meetings and Scientific Advisory Council Meetings for recurring themes; and 2) evaluate the social network of organizations involved with community-based research including community based organizations, safety-net clinics, and academic medical centers.

Qualitative research methods. Survey methods. Social network analysis. Policy analysis.

For qualitative research methods, we will use software such as NVivo. For survey data management, we will use REDcap. Statistical analysis software can include SAS, STATA, or R. For the social network analysis, we will use network visualization software such as NodeXL. All software will be provided by the lab/mentor.

Research from C3EN may be presented at the annual symposium of the Center for Chronic Disease Research and Policy, annual meeting of the American Public Health Association, annual meeting of Academy Health.