The Center for Community Health Partnership and Research is pleased to announce four partnerships were selected to receive 2026-2027 Partnership Development and Sustainability Support (PDSS) funding.
These awards provide up to $10,000 in funding over a 12-month period for investigators and their community partner(s) to strengthen relationships and prepare for community-engaged research. Following PDSS, many awardees are well-positioned to apply for community-engaged research pilot funding through the Clinical and Translational Research Funding Program (CTRFP). PDSS and CTRFP are funding programs of the Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences.
This year’s awarded partnerships are:
Vidya Eswaran, MD, Assistant Professor, WashU
Community partners: RE-LINK (Integrated Health Network)
Summary: In this project, WashU researchers will nurture and grow relationships with four local community organizations that provide crucial services to individuals who have been involved in the criminal-legal system (imprisonment in jail, prison, or juvenile detention centers, or on probation/parole). Together, we will map the current gaps in services for this population, develop a shared 10-year agenda for research and advocacy, and develop the mechanism for a Community Advisory Board to provide feedback to WashU researchers interested in assessing and improving health outcomes in this population.
Dan Ferris, Associate Professor, WashU
Community partner: Operation Food Search
Summary: The partnership between Operation Food Search and Washington University in St. Louis brings together shared community and academic strengths to advance research, policy, and practice to strengthen the connections between food and health systems. Building on earlier collaborative food prescription and nutrition support initiatives, the partners will work with community members and local organizations to co-design a shared research agenda and implementation plan that advance sustainable, evidence-based hunger relief and Food is Medicine solutions across the St. Louis region and Missouri.
Mitra Naseh, PhD, Assistant Professor, WashU
Community partner: Monarch Immigrant Services
Summary: Building on a multi-year partnership with Monarch Immigrant Services, PRISM establishes a community modeling team to map systemic drivers of mental wellbeing for refugees in St. Louis using Community Based System Dynamics (CBSD). We will co-develop guiding principles, obtain CBSD training, and co-design facilitation manuals for a series of group model building workshops with refugees in St. Louis. These workshops will illuminate feedback dynamics between mental health and economic and social integration and enable the identification of leverage points to inform the design of a group-based mental health and economic empowerment intervention.
Karla Washington, Associate Professor, WashU
Community partner: Cancer Support Community Greater St. Louis (CSC STL)
Summary: Washington University and Cancer Support Community Greater St. Louis are partnering to bring an evidence-based family caregiver support program beyond the university walls and into the St. Louis community. This collaboration will build local capacity to offer the service free of charge, helping caregivers strengthen problem-solving skills, enhance well-being, and find positive aspects in caregiving, ultimately empowering families and transforming the experience of cancer across the St. Louis region.