180+ networks across 21 NJ counties
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT CORE OVERVIEW
NJACTS draws leading academic, industry and community groups together to understand and address the health needs of New Jersey. Central to this is engagement with our community to ensure that our efforts respond to their priorities. Our goal is to conduct research with the New Jersey community, in the community and for the community, and yet, have impact beyond our state’s boundaries.
Stay in Touch!
Join RCommunity!
Join Rutgers Health Service Corps!
Empowering Community-Based Research
Through Cultural and Linguistic Collaboration
- Navigating interpreter-mediated encounters
- Effective translation for research
- Understanding cultural nuances in literacy, trust, and belonging
Through collaboration across disciplines and leveraging expertise within and beyond Rutgers, CrEER ensures that research is culturally relevant and impactful both locally and globally.
👉 Discover how CrEER is shaping the future of community-based research here.
Association for Clinical and Translational Science (ATCS) Membership for Community Members
Did you know that community members are eligible to become members of ACTS through their affiliation with NJ ACTS?
Community members are able to access ACTS’ member benefits, including:
- Discounted registration to the annual Translational Science meeting
- Opportunities to participate in Special Interest Groups and Committees
- Access to the community platform website and more!
Resource for Investigators – CTSA Compendium of D&I Catalogs
Dissemination and implementation (D&I) research focuses on translating evidence-based interventions into real-world settings to improve health outcomes in the broader community.
An open-source CTSA Compendium of D&I Catalogs has been developed by the Clinical & Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program’s “Advancing Dissemination and Implementation Sciences in CTSAs” working group to support investigators at any stage of their D&I skill-building journey. It provides a curated list of resource catalogs relevant to the conduct of D&I science. The materials include frameworks/theories/models, methods/measures, funding resources, and practice and training resources.
Click here to learn more.
CIRTification – A New Alternative to CITI for Community Partners
The rollout of CIRTification at Rutgers has begun. The CIRTification program provides research ethics training alternatives for individuals in community organizations, with limited understanding of conducting human research and protecting potential research participants. This option provides training focused on equipping community partners to conduct human subject research effectively and safely in their communities.
To learn more about the program at Rutgers, please visit this link CIRTification.
NJ ACTS COMMUNITY SCIENTIST PROGRAM
This program is designed to provide researchers with rapid feedback from expert community members to ensure their research projects are culturally appropriate and relevant to the community.
PARTICIPATE IN OUR NEXT COHORT!
For more information, please contact njactscommunity@rwjms.rutgers.edu
NJ HEROES TOO
Through the ongoing New Jersey Healthcare Essential Worker Outreach and Education Study – Testing Overlooked Occupations (NJ HEROES TOO), we have gained a wealth of data on COVID-19’s effects, gleaned valuable learnings on attitudes toward testing and vaccines, and improved COVID-19 awareness in underserved communities.
Community Blog
NJACTS Community Engagement Core COVID-19 Resources
The situation around the current spread of COVID-19 is changing rapidly. We have compiled resource links for the general community highlighting local resources across New Jersey, ways to get involved, and mental and physical wellness. Visit our COVID-19 page for...
Should We Be Concerned About Cannabis Use Among Youth?
As the wave of legalization of medical marijuana and recreational cannabis sweeps the nation, many of us who work in the addiction field are worried. Legalization resulted in an increased availability of marijuana and a decreased stigma around using it, and those two...
Rutgers Researchers Aim to ‘Edit’ Proteins in Humans and Attain Insight into Illness.
Rutgers researchers are seeking to develop the technology to modify or “edit” protein molecules in the body—an advance that could spur major breakthroughs in human health. While such research is in its early phases, the Rutgers team has received support from a...
What you should know about sleep loss and inflammation, according to new study.
Chronic sleep deprivation in a small group of healthy adults increased production of immune cells linked to inflammation while also altering the immune cells’ DNA, a new study found. “Not only were the number of immune cells elevated, but they may be wired and...
Ethics Not Only Allow but Demand Placebo in Some HIV Cure Trials.
Is it ethical to test possible HIV cures by having subjects stop taking antiretroviral therapy and then giving them placebos rather than the experimental treatment? The answer is often yes, according to a new paper published in the Journal of Virus Eradication by...
Race and Ethnicity Influence End-of-Life Care for Medicare Patients With Dementia.
More than half of Medicare beneficiaries are diagnosed with dementia during their lifetime, and of those diagnosed who receive intensive end-of-life care – such as mechanical ventilation, intubation, feeding tube initiation and new dialysis – most are from racial and...

