The Research Program conducts high-quality, timely, and meaningful research and evaluation work. The Research Program is directed by Caitlin Dickinson, MPH and Jennifer Coury, MA. We do the following: 

• Provide a resource to OHSU researchers and community partners interested in research 
• Design and conduct pragmatic and randomized clinical trials with ORPRN-affiliated practices and communities 
• Design and conduct participatory research and implementation science studies in clinic and community settings 
• Conduct projects reaching clinics and patients in rural and remote communities to advance health and health equity 

The Research Program collaborates actively with more than 15 faculty collaborators across OHSU. We support a wide variety of research-related activities: 

• Grant, contract application support​ 
• Research recruitment, design​ 
• Research project management​ 
• Qualitative methods (Core Lead: NithyaPriya Ramalingam) 
• Quantitative methods (Core Lead: Robert Durr) 
• Practice facilitation​ (Core Lead: Brittany Badicke) 
• Technical assistance​ 
• Research dissemination 

Between July 2019 – June 2023, the Research Program supported projects which engaged over 145 clinics, enrolled more than 3,246 direct participants in clinical trials, and reached 67,300 people including all the trials and practice-based research studies. The majority of projects in the Research Program prioritize reaching clinics and patients in rural and frontier communities. ORPRN has done practice-based research since its inception—now we have about 25 currently running projects under the Research Program.  

Our close collaboration with health care partners means our research addresses real-world issues in areas such as vaccinations, cancer screening, substance use disorder, diabetes care, heart disease, and tobacco cessation. Here are some important questions posed by a few of our current projects: 

• Can we screen for 50 different types of cancer with a blood draw? PATHFINDER 2 
• Can math-based text messages to parents of 3+4 year olds support kindergarten readiness? MATH 
• Can we get more people screened for colorectal cancer screening in rural areas using multi-step, collaborative approaches to outreach? SMARTER CRC 
• Can moisturizing babies from early infancy reduce incidence of eczema? CASCADE 
• Do activities and other supports delay functional decline and increase well-being among older adults at risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease?  RSELVES 
• How do statins improve the health for folks 75 years or older? PREVENTABLE 
• How can we help primary care clinics to improve breast and cervical cancer screening? SCREENWISE 
• What is the current state of rural veterans’ access to and experience of care in rural Western States? CARAVAN 
• How can we collaborate with rural primary care practices and rural community-based organizations to increase HPV vaccination completion? RAVE 

We are a highly collaborative bunch! This last year, the Research Program has been adding new ways to share skills across different research projects. The project management group meets monthly to share best practices, work on project challenges, and build skills. The Quantitative, Qualitative, and Facilitation Cores are meeting regularly to develop methods templates, problem solve, and access training. The whole program comes together quarterly to grow, share, learn about each other’s work, and, yes, also socialize. Particular accomplishments over the last year are: 

1. ORPRN staff are sharing the results from a number of research studies in their final year that were successfully conducted with clinics and health plans across the state (and nationally). ORPRN staff are busy attending national conferences to present key results, publishing in scientific journals, and disseminating the knowledge gained back to health care providers and staff. 

2. We have worked on better defining and operationalizing our research priorities for new work at ORPRN:  

• We choose topics that match research priorities - Is it community-based, primary-care focused? Does is build on prior successful research? Will our partners be interested in this topic area, does it fill a need in the current primary care landscape? 
• In addition to topic area, we strive for a diverse funding mix, sufficient budget, projects that engage diverse patient or community populations, and research that addresses health inequities across the state. 

3. ORPRN has integrated its Practice Facilitation Core with OHSU’s Community Outreach, Research and Engagement (CORE) in service of our community and academic partners. CORE is comprised of four programs at OHSU that support community-academic partnerships and facilitate community engaged research. Regional teams of OHSU and ORPRN employees can work together to support and generate cross-program collaborative projects.