While clinical research intends to improve health outcomes for all, access to research participation is often limited and inequitable. Geographic proximity is a recognized barrier, thus, systemic infrastructure solutions through federal programs including General Clinical Research Centers and Clinical and Translational Science Awards have sought to improve accessibility. Even with such support, academic medical centers often have limited clinical research-dedicated space apart from shared exam rooms in difficult-to-navigate hospitals or clinics. In 2019, the Duke University School of Medicine looked beyond its medical center campus to identify free-standing sites within Durham communities for participant study visits. Catalyzed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Duke Research at Pickett, a 22 000-square-foot building with a laboratory, 30 exam rooms, and on-site parking, opened in October 2020 to support vaccine and treatment trials. Upon the lifting of many COVID-19 restrictions, and in partnership with the Research Equity and Diversity Initiative (READI) Community Advisory Council, the building was transformed to encourage community gatherings, education, and training programs. To date, Duke Research at Pickett has hosted 2692 participants in 78 research trials and 14 community-engaged activities.

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: To address investigator frustration and appropriate oversight for student interns performing clinical research activities, we created infrastructure to support matchmaking with clinical research teams and onboarding of student interns, thereby allowing for more meaningful internship experiences with access to clinical research systems. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Internship requests may be initiated by a student, an affiliated institution, or an investigator. Requests are triaged accordingly. Affiliation agreements define the parameters for these placements. Unaffiliated institutions may request an agreement by contacting CRISP; otherwise, unaffiliated interns will be classified as visiting scholars with restricted access. If a student is from an affiliated institution, the Clinical Research Internship Portal (CRISP) is used to collect and track information regarding the internship. CRISP provides: Matchmaking for student interns with placements Compilation of onboarding documentation Tools (e.g., learning agreements) for student intern supervisors Professional development workshop series for all student interns RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Launched in 2021, CRISP is a relative newcomer to the Duke research training landscape, but preliminary impact may be measured by the following metrics: Affiliated institutions: 8 agreements in place, 4 pending 25 student interns from 7 institutions placed across 11 departments/institutes 7-session professional development series garnering positive feedback from interns and supervisors Improved access to clinical and research systems aligned with clinical research activities Enhanced oversight and tracking of student interns across Duke enterprise Expansion of program to include internal and external student interns CRISP has engaged invested parties within and outside of Duke to ensure robust oversight of these valuable training opportunities and to create new pathways into our workforce. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Streamlining intern placements has lessened pain points related to including students in our research environment, both for investigators and institutional partners. Future plans include expanding the number of affiliation agreements, creating an interface to quickly triage intern requests, and scaling up the professional development series.

Clinical trials continue to disproportionately underrepresent people of color. Increasing representation of diverse backgrounds among clinical research personnel has the potential to yield greater representation in clinical trials and more efficacious medical interventions by addressing medical mistrust. In 2019, North Carolina Central University (NCCU), a Historically Black College and University with a more than 80% underrepresented student population, established the Clinical Research Sciences Program with support from the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) program at neighboring Duke University. This program was designed to increase exposure of students from diverse educational, racial, and ethnic backgrounds to the field of clinical research, with a special focus on health equity education. In the first year, the program graduated 11 students from the two-semester certificate program, eight of whom now hold positions as clinical research professionals. This article describes how leveraging the CTSA program helped NCCU build a framework for producing a highly trained, competent, and diverse workforce in clinical research responsive to the call for increased diversity in clinical trial participation.

Navigating the research domain at an academic medical center can be challenging, even for seasoned investigators. To address this, Duke University launched two initiatives: (1) a research navigation “hotline” to provide brief assistance with a variety of research questions; and (2) researcher onboarding and consultation, a one-to-one tailored offering to ensure that researchers are equipped to navigate research resources and processes effectively. The services are provided by the myRESEARCHnavigators (MRN) team, funded by Duke’s CTSA. The diverse scientific backgrounds of the six team members align well with those of the research community, allowing for a good match between the researcher and MRN team member. The MRN team answers approximately 30 questions per month, and has provided consultations to almost 400 researchers. Both services receive high satisfaction ratings (4 or 5 stars [out of 5 stars] given to 90% of hotline answers, and 99% of researcher onboarding/consultation sessions). As of July 2019, the School of Medicine has determined that the consultations are critical to their mission and have made them a requirement for new research faculty. The team will continue marketing both services to encourage adoption.