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 inclusive, 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, practice resources, training, and health equity 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 alternative for individuals in community organizations, with limited understanding of conducting human research and protecting potential research participants. This option provides training that focuses on establishing the skills in 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 Available Services
Virtual Community Engagement Salon The NJ ACTS CEC Virtual Community Engagement Salons bring researchers together with patients, community members and health care stakeholders to actively participate in cross-talk — to incubate ideas for engagement in the...
Professors Push for Bridging the Biomedical-Behavioral Health Divide.
At Family Medicine at Monument Square, a Rutgers Health primary care clinic in New Brunswick, N.J., doctors, nurses and even front-office staff are trained to connect behavioral-health services to every patient who needs them. When patients present with mental health...
Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Seeks to Fix Medical Assistant Shortage.
Damian Melendez never thought about working in health care until his father had a heart attack. That’s when his personal experience turned into a professional calling. In his early 20s, working in customer service at a New York airport and taking care of his father,...
Herbal Mouthwash Targets Gum Germs While Letting Helpful Bacteria Flourish.
Mouthwashes have long bragged about killing 99.9% of germs in your mouth, but Rutgers Health researchers suggest this scorched-earth approach may harm oral health by eliminating beneficial bacteria along with the bad. A study in Frontiers in Oral Health from...
Researchers Target Alzheimer’s Risk and Resilience Among Brazilian Immigrants.
Researchers at the Herbert and Jacqueline Krieger Klein Alzheimer’s Research Center at the Rutgers Brain Health Institute have launched the Brazilian Aging in New York–New Jersey Study – one of the first United States–based studies to investigate aging and brain...
Rutgers Center for Recovery & Wellbeing Begins Outpatient Services in Plainfield, Bringing Compassionate Care and Community Healing.
Since April 2025, the Rutgers Center for Recovery & Wellbeing (RCRW), located in the heart of Plainfield, has been steadily offering outpatient (OP) services to adults seeking recovery from substance use and co-occurring behavioral health conditions. OP care...