NIH ENGAGE

An Initiative to Increase Public Engagement in Clinical Research

Welcome

NIH is seeking information to assist the agency in developing additional engagement strategies that ensure public voices are meaningfully incorporated in NIH supported clinical research – and we want to hear from YOU!

  • NIH recently released a request for information on strategies to maximize public engagement, see here for more information on how to submit a response.
  • Save the date: NIH will be hosting an information webinar on July 17th, which will also include significant time for public feedback. More details on the webinar will be provided shortly.
  • To learn more about the goals of ENGAGE, check out this Under the Poliscope blog authored by Lyric Jorgenson and the ENGAGE Co-Chairs, Suzanne Bakken and Christin Veasley.

What is ENGAGE?

Engaging the Public as Partners in Clinical Research (ENGAGE) is an initiative of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) which is working to develop a vision and framework for incorporating public voices in all phases and types of clinical research. To accomplish this, NIH asked the Novel and Exceptional Technology and Research Advisory Committee (NExTRAC) to form the ENGAGE Working Group. This Working Group includes patients, advocates, researchers, clinicians, non-profit representatives, and more (see Meet the Team page for more information).

Co-Chairs’ Corner

As the Co-Chairs of the ENGAGE Working Group, we are excited to help NIH promote engagement in research. We come from different backgrounds – one of us a patient advocate and one a researcher – but we share the same goal of ensuring NIH-funded research and its outcomes are meaningful and actionable (especially for those who could benefit from or be affected by the research).

We believe, and the Working Group agrees, that engagement should happen early and often throughout the research process. And by that same thought, frequent public engagement should also be a key component of the ENGAGE Initiative. Therefore, we are very excited to release an update on our Phase 1 efforts and seek public input on preferences, experiences, and recommendations relating to increasing public engagement in all phases of clinical research. We look forward to hearing from you!

– Suzanne Bakken and Christin Veasley

Questions?

Please reach out to Alissa Meister (alissa.meister@nih.gov) with any questions or comments on this effort.