The George Washington University School of Nursing (GW SON) recently celebrated the graduation of the inaugural Scholar Cohort of the NIH/NINR-funded Advancing Non-Medical Risk Factor (NMRF) Research through a Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) Lens Short Course at the GW Cancer Prevention and Wellness Center in Southeast Washington, DC. Led by Principal Investigator Sherrie Flynt Wallington, PhD, MA, Professor and Associate Center Director for Community Outreach and Engagement at the GW Cancer Center, with Co-Investigators Laurie Posey, DNP, FNP-BC, FAANP, and Christine Pintz, PhD, RN, the four-and-a-half-month national training program brought together 10 interdisciplinary scholars from nursing, medicine, public health, social work, and other health-related fields. The inaugural cohort represented institutions across the United States and South Korea, reflecting the program's growing national and international reach.
The GW Cancer Prevention and Wellness Center, located in Ward 8, serves as a hub for community-engaged cancer prevention, education, outreach, and wellness programming. Hosting the Scholar-in-Residence experience at the Center reinforced the program's commitment to community engagement and the principles of community-based participatory research (CBPR) by bringing scholars into a community-centered environment where research, partnership, and service intersect.
Over the course of the program, scholars completed asynchronous pre-work using a flipped classroom model, participated in seven synchronous Zoom sessions, engaged in structured peer mentoring and peer-to-peer learning activities, and received both group and individualized coaching. Developed and delivered by GW faculty and expert faculty from institutions across the country, the curriculum combined didactic instruction, interactive discussions, peer engagement, coaching, and individualized feedback to support the development of research proposals addressing NMRF.
Scholars completed key milestones, including proposal outlines, preliminary drafts, and a grantsmanship template for a research proposal. The program culminated in an in-person Scholar-in-Residence experience, during which scholars presented their final research proposals to program faculty, members of the short course’s Community Advisory Board, community partners, and invited guests. Research proposal topics ranged across chronic disease management, maternal health, cancer care, healthcare access, physical activity, infectious disease, and health and social service utilization. Participants received constructive feedback to strengthen their proposed projects and position them to successfully compete for future nursing, medical, public health, and allied health research funding opportunities.
The Scholar-in-Residence experience featured a keynote address by Rafael E. Pérez-Figueroa, PhD, MPH, Associate Dean for Community Engagement, Population Health, and Global Public Health at Rutgers School of Public Health, as well as a panel discussion featuring Julia Rowland, PhD, former Director of the Office of Cancer Survivorship at the National Cancer Institute and currently, Senior Strategic Advisor at the Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, and Jaren Hill Lockridge, Director of Strategic Partnerships & Engagement of Dreaming Out Loud, a Washington, DC-based organization focused on advancing food access, health, and economic equity. Together, they emphasized the importance of integrating the authentic voice of the community at every stage of research, from identifying priorities to developing, implementing, and evaluating interventions designed to address NMRF. They also highlighted the critical role of academic-community partnerships in generating meaningful research and sustainable solutions that improve health outcomes.
Building on the success of the inaugural cohort, recruitment is currently underway for a second cohort of scholars scheduled to begin in Fall 2026. Additional information about the program, eligibility requirements, and application opportunities can be found at nursing.gwu.edu/nmrf.