Projects
COVID-19 TESTING AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT RESEARCH
Projects funded through RADx-UP serve a wide range of communities across the country.
Specific focus areas:
- Establishing multiple clinical research sites across the country to evaluate, in real-time, a variety of testing methods in specific populations, areas, and settings
- Encouraging collaboration between the program sites and the community — tribal health centers, houses of worship, homeless shelters, and prison systems — to identify and address their unique needs
Universities and institutions participating in RADx-UP are serving many communities across the US:
Interactive Map of Phase I RADx-UP projects
This interactive map shows the breadth of Phase I RADx-UP projects,* their geographic distribution as well as the communities and settings served.
Select the arrows at bottom to explore the different map views. The first and second maps display the states and territories RADx-UP projects are serving. The third map display shows the communities and settings served by RADx-UP projects.
*This map currently displays Phase 1 RADx-UP projects. In the near future, it will be updated to display the remaining Phase II projects.
Project Spotlights
Find below six spotlights on RADx-UP projects. To see past RADx-UP project spotlights, visit our spotlight archive. Are you a RADx-UP project or affiliated partner with a story to tell or a resource to share? Select the button below to share your news!
Community Driven Approach to Mitigate COVID 19 Disparities in Hawaii's Vulnerable Populations
This past spring, the RADx-UP project “Community Driven Approach to Mitigate COVID 19 Disparities in Hawaii's Vulnerable Populations” conducted longitudinal testing in public schools in Hawaii in preparation for re-openings in the fall. Learn more in this video (linked and embedded to the right) about how the Pacific Alliance Against COVID-19, a partnership that includes the University of Hawaii and AHARO network of health centers, worked with the Kamaile Academy to keep teachers, staff and students healthy.
The Pacific Alliance Against COVID-19 is working with local Department of Health to expand their pilot model to other school districts in the state. In addition to testing strategy, they have created several culturally specific learning modules for educators and students around COVID-19 protection and prevention, COVID-19 variants and vaccines, the history of infectious diseases in Hawaii, and Genealogy and 'Ohana bubbles.
Population focus: Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders
Research institution: University of Hawaii at Manoa
NIH project description
Supporting COVID-19 Prevention and Testing for Marginalized and Minoritized Youth and Young Adults
Early in the pandemic, this RADx-UP project team noticed that almost none of the public messaging about COVID-19 was directed toward youth and young adults. This was concerning because while relatively few youth and young adults die from COVID-19, the pandemic is still having a major impact on their lives. They were especially concerned about young people who also are members of the communities experiencing the social injustices that have created such profound COVID-19 disparities – especially young people of color and/or Latinx background, LGBTQ youth and young adults, and those experiencing homelessness.
Investigators from Northwestern University and Columbia University have partnered with two community organizations (The Broadway Youth Center in Chicago, which serves youth experiencing homelessness, and particularly young people of color; and YouthLink, a program that works with LGBTQ youth-serving organizations), Bowman Performance Consulting, a research organization that advances indigenous knowledge in areas including academic research, and a consultant specializing in Latinx youth.
Together, this diverse team has created a project focused on understanding how LGBTQ and homeless youth and young adults of color are experiencing messaging around COVID-19 and how they’re responding to the pandemic. The goal is to create clear and direct COVID-19 messaging that is relevant to their experiences and motivates them to take the right steps to protect themselves, their families, and their communities.
Early Insights
- The team’s strong existing relationships with community partners meant they already had established trust, which greatly helped the flow of the project and enabled the team to overcome any issues much more easily.
- It has been essential to find the right balance between moving expeditiously, given the urgent nature of this topic, and responding to community member feedback.
- There have been a number of stops and starts due to the need to address a number of competing needs. For example, ensuring data validity while trying to reduce burden on participants has required creative problem solving.
- A common challenge of community-engaged research is that academic institutions are often not prepared to administratively adapt to the needs of smaller community partners. This has created some administrative and financial hurdles to overcome.
Population focus: marginalized and minoritized youth and young adults in Chicago
Research institution: Northwestern University at Chicago
NIH project description
Keeping Rural Minority Essential Workplaces Open Safely During The COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Frequent Point-of-Care Molecular Workplace Surveillance for Miners
This project is investigating the effectiveness of using rapid point-of-care testing at the workplace to reduce the spread of COVID-19 among workers at a coal mine in McKinley County, NM. The hypothesis is that frequent testing at the mine itself is an effective method to both reduce COVID-19 infection in this population and discover risk factors for the virus specific to these mine workers.
Project investigators chose this mining community because they are essential workers who have a higher likelihood of exposure to COVID-19 than the general population due to mines being enclosed, poorly ventilated spaces where workers have prolonged and close contact with each other. The miners, many of whom are men of American Indian and Hispanic descent, also have other factors that make them more at risk of suffering from COVID-19 including chronic health problems and living in crowded or multi-generational homes without reliable access to running water.
Key research aims and intervention
This research has four key aims:
- To determine acceptance among miners of frequent workplace testing
- To determine how well point-of-care testing detects COVID-19 in this work setting
- To determine the cost benefit of conducting frequent workplace testing vs the reduced infection rates that result from testing
- To determine the predictive factors that emerge when assessing positive results within this population
The project’s intervention is to give every worker a nasal swab test at the beginning of their work shift on alternate days, analyzed with a screening test that provides results within 10 minutes.
Early insights
- The IRB team, community partners, and the CDCC Engagement Impact Team all went above and beyond expectations to expedite the project, recruit participants, attain test kits, and deliver what we needed on time for this research.
- The project was limited by COVID-19 itself, which made travel difficult and increased the cost of staff recruitment given their safety concerns and needs.
- One hundred sixty miners out of 225 were ultimately enrolled in the study. Testing hesitancy among the miner community was more significant than expected, with about 40% of the miners declining participation. The reasons behind this significant testing hesitancy merit further study.
- The extreme remoteness of the area, 45 miles from the nearest population center, made internet and cell phone access difficult.
- Finally, the very strict decontamination and personal protection measures taken to protect staff required significant training and more cost than anticipated.
Population focus: Hispanic and Native American miners in rural New Mexico
Research institution: The University of New Mexico
NIH project description
COVID-19 Messaging for SPeciAl School DiStrict Testing (COMPASS-T)
Children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in both direct and indirect ways. The direct impact is that more children with IDD are infected and dying, largely due to the difficulty this population has in carrying out prevention strategies such as masking and distancing. The indirect impact involves the reduced access to in-person schooling, and thus reduced access to the care and therapy that improve their and their family’s quality of life.
COMPASS-T is a project led by Washington University of St. Louis. Its goal is to improve school safety by providing routine COVID-19 testing to staff and students of the six schools in the Special School District of St. Louis that serve children with IDD. As this student population is 49% African American, COMPASS-T is also holding focus groups and national surveys to understand the beliefs around testing and vaccine usage.
Population focus: Children with special healthcare needs in St. Louis
Research institution: Washington University in St. Louis
NIH project description
Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy Among African-Americans Using a Community Pharmacist Intervention Model
The goal of this project is to help pharmacists positively influence their customers’ vaccination decisions and empower pharmacists to create targeted interventions to improve COVID-19 vaccine uptake. Community pharmacists are uniquely positioned in the community as health care responders, as they are often the first source of health information for patients in underserved communities.
Since November 2020, the project has established a strong community-based participatory research approach and partnerships from across the Southeastern Louisiana region. The first phase of the project involves conducting community surveys to better understand COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and identify possible interventions. The project team is recruiting pharmacists to participate from a professional network of over 300 community pharmacists in the Southeastern Louisiana region.
The community interest in the project speaks to the impact that an HBCU-centered project has in garnering support among African Americans.
Early Insights
Preliminary findings from networking with community pharmacists indicate that special support for the elderly, community education, and vaccine access are paramount to improving vaccination rates.
Population focus: African American community in the New Orleans area
Research institution: Xavier University of Louisiana
Partners: Faith-based organizations; pharmacies; clinics; student and prominent social organizations that represent the African-American community in Louisiana
NIH project description
CO-CREATE Increasing COVID-19 Testing for Pregnant Women and Children
Pregnant people who contract COVID-19 have an increased risk of severe illness, ICU admission, and death. CO-CREATE is working to increase testing in this at-risk population with a two-phase project. The first phase involves conducting surveys and interviewing patients, medical providers, and community members to understand the challenges and supports involved in getting tested for COVID-19 in San Ysidro.
The second phase, which launched in February 2021, offers testing to all patients at the San Ysidro Maternal and Child Health Center, the supporters and parents/caregivers accompanying them to their appointments, and their contacts in the San Ysidro community. In total, the project will provide more than 90,000 COVID-19 tests over the span of two years.
Early Insights
A number of factors make COVID-19 testing and prevention more difficult in San Ysidro, including socioeconomic factors that increase the population’s exposure to COVID-19; conflicting and confusing guidance from authorities; inconsistent adherence to and enforcement of the rules; the need for in-person human connection; and housing disparities that have worsened in the pandemic.
The project team has also identified important factors to overcome testing disparities in San Ysidro. These include making testing more inclusive, community-centered, and accessible; ensuring programming is culturally and linguistically competent, and that staff is bilingual and have access to accurate materials and information; and making resources and services available to vulnerable populations, and especially families.
Population focus: Pregnant women and children in San Ysidro, CA
Research institution: University of California, San Diego
Partners: San Ysidro Health; The Global Action Research Center
Website
COVID-19 Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Northwest Arkansas (NWA)
In the summer of 2020, the racial and ethnic disparities of COVID-19 in Northwest Arkansas (NWA) were so stark that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) came to the area to investigate. They found that 74% of all adult cases in NWA were either Latinx or Pacific Islander (primarily Marshallese), while Latinx and Pacific Islanders only account for 19% of the region’s population.
Deaths from COVID-19 in NWA were also highly disparate across race and ethnicity. Even among racial/ethnic minorities, the Pacific Islander population in NWA stands out as having much higher odds of death from COVID-19 (25 times higher than among Latinx persons).
Yet, minority populations are more hesitant about testing and vaccination. Some communities of color are half as likely as Whites to be vaccinated. Beyond hesitancy, Latinx and Pacific Islander communities also face many structural barriers to testing and vaccination.
This project, led by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, has conducted qualitative interviews with 80 community members and enrolled almost 1000 (half of the projected number) in a testing study that includes culturally and linguistically appropriate recruitment materials. Project leaders also have deep community engagement.
Early Insights
Key research findings so far are that testing is impeded by factors including limited times open for those working alternative shifts, limited locations in rural and minority communities who often lack the time or transportation to travel, and lack of bilingual workers to help resolve cultural and language barriers.
The project has found that more people get tested when community health workers speak the population’s language; testing is carried out in people’s neighborhoods, churches, and worksites; and local community leaders actively engage in community outreach and promote testing.
Population focus: Pacific Island population in Northwest Arkansas
Research institution: University of Arkansas Medical School
Partners: Religious leaders, community organizations, and immigrant advocates
NIH project description
Projects by the Numbers
Communities Served
Project Settings
All Projects
- SARS-CoV-2 Screening and Diagnostic testing for return to K-12 schools
Duke University - Assessing Testing Strategies for Safe Return to K-12 Schools in an Underserved Population
Washington University - Using COVID-19 testing and risk communication strategies to accelerate students return to school
University of Washington - Support for Safe Return to in-Person School: COVID-19 Testing, Learning, and Consultation
ICF Macro, Inc. - WUIDDRC and KKI Safe Return to School
Washington University - COV-IDD: Testing for COVID-19 in high risk children with intellectual and developmental disabilities
University of Rochester - ReSET: Restarting Safe Education and Testing for Children with Medical Complexity
University of Wisconsin-Madison - Project Safe Schools: Re-opening schools SAFELY for Native American youth
Johns Hopkins University - RADx-UP CDCC SAY YES COVID Test Study
Duke University | Read more here - Connecting our Neighborhoods Need for Enhanced and Coordinated Testing to Achieve Equity: CoNNECT to Achieve Equality
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences | Read more here - Implementing Community-based Approaches to Increase SARS-CoV-2 Testing among an Underserved and Vulnerable Hispanic Population
University of Texas at El Paso | Read more here - Building Resilience and Vital Equity (BRAVE) - Increasing COVID-19 Testing in American Indians
North Carolina Central University | Read more here - Puipuia le Ola: Increasing Reach and Uptake of COVID-19 Testing Among Pacific Islanders in Hawaii and Guam
University of Hawaii at Manoa | NIH Reporter Profile | Spotlight - Scaling Up SARS-COV-2 Testing to Serve Latinx Communities
A project within the grant: Prevention: Prevention Research Center: Parenting Among Women Who Are Opioid Users
University of Oregon | Read more here - Clinical and Translational Science Award
Medical College of Wisconsin | Read more here - Protecting Native Families from COVID-19: RADx Initiative
Johns Hopkins University | Read more here - Improved Testing for COVID-19 in Skilled Nursing Facilities: IMPACT-C
Brown University | Read more here - Community Network Driven COVID-19 Testing of Vulnerable Populations in the Central US
University of Chicago | Read more here - COVID-19 Testing and Prevention in Correctional Settings
Yale University | Read more here - The OSU Center for Clinical and Translational Science: Advancing Today's Discoveries to Improve Health
Ohio State University | Read more here - Community-Engaged Research on COVID-19 Testing in the US Territories
Yale University | Read more here - RADx-UP NARCH Supplement: A Cherokee Nation Community-Driven Program for Testing and Contact Tracing (Cherokee PROTECT)
Cherokee Nation | Read more here - Community Driven Approach to Mitigate COVID-19 Disparities in Hawaii's Vulnerable Populations
University of Hawaii at Manoa | Read more here - Leveraging Bio-Cultural Mechanisms to Maximize the Impact of Multi-Level Preventable Disease Interventions with Southwest Populations
Arizona State University-Tempe Campus | Read more here - Monitoring COVID-19 and Building Capacity with Northern Plains Tribes and the Future of Pandemics
Stanford University | Read more here - ORALE COVID-19: Organizaciones para Reducir, Avanzar y Lograr Equidad contra el COVID-19 (Organizations to Reduce, and to Advance, and Lead for Equity against COVID-19)
University of California, Davis | Read more here - Community-Academic Partnership to Address COVID-19 Among Utah Community Health Centers
University of Utah | Read more here - Community-Engaged Research on COVID-19 Testing Among Underserved and/or Vulnerable Populations
Florida International University | Read more here - The Johns Hopkins Center for AIDS Research (JHU CFAR) RADx-UP
Johns Hopkins University | Read more here - Implementation Science Center in Cancer Control Equity: A Competitive Revision to Accelerate COVID Testing in Vulnerable Communities
Harvard School of Public Health | Read more here - Communities Fighting COVID!
San Diego State University | Read more here - A Nurse-Community Health Worker-Family Partnership Model to Increase COVID-19 Testing in Urban Underserved and Vulnerable Communities
New York University | Read more here - A Dynamic COVID-19 Community-Engaged Testing Strategy in Alabama (COVID COMET AL)
University of Alabama at Birmingham | Read more here - Harnessing Technological Innovation and Community-Engaged Implementation Science to Optimize COVID-19 Testing for Women and Children in Underserved Communities
University of California, San Diego | Read more here - WUIDDRC Supplement-Supporting the Health and Well-being of Children with Intellectual and Developmental Disability during COVID-19 Pandemic
Washington University | Read more here - New Jersey Alliance for Clinical and Translational Science: NJ ACTS
Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences | Read more here - Rapid Optimization of COVID-19 Testing for People Affected by Diabetes
Emory University | Read more here - Addressing COVID-19 Testing Disparities in Vulnerable Populations Using a Community Just in Time Adaptive Intervention
A project within the grant: UTHealth Center for Clinical and Translational Science Award Program
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston | Read more here - Developing Novel Strategies to Increase COVID-19 Testing among Underserved and Vulnerable Populations in West Virginia through Community and State Partnerships
West Virginia University | Read more here - RADx-UP: Improving the Response of Local Urban and Rural Communities to Disparities in COVID-19 Testing
University of Kansas Medical Center | Read more here - Community Organizations for Natives: COVID-19 Epidemiology, Research, Testing, and Services (CONCERTS)
Washington State University | Read more here - Oklahoma Shared Clinical and Translational Resources
University of Oklahoma Health Science Center | Read more here - Collaborative Community Networks to Optimize Implementation of Low Barrier COVID-19 Testing Efforts among Diverse Latinx Populations in Northern California
University of California, San Francisco | Read more here - Rapid Acceleration of Acceptable COVID Testing and Care Options for NYC Public Housing Residents
A project within the grant: Evaluation of Smoke-Free Housing Policy Impacts on Tobacco Smoke Exposure and Health Outcomes
New York University School of Medicine | Read more here - Rhode Island Center for Clinical and Translational Science
Brown University | Read more here - Juntos (Together): A community led approach to enhance to COVID-19 testing among vulnerable Latinos
Johns Hopkins University | Read more here - LITE CONNECT: Addressing testing gaps and epidemiologic disparities of COVID-19 among transgender people in the United States
Johns Hopkins University | Read more here - Advancing Palliative Care in Northern Plains American Indians
Massachusetts General Hospital | Read more here - Use of Behavioral Economics in Repeat SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Testing in Disadvantaged Communities
University of Southern California | Read more here - Supporting COVID-19 prevention and testing for marginalized and minoritized youth and young adults
A project within the grant: Role of Alcohol Disparities in HIV Risk among Sexual Minority Youth
Northwestern University at Chicago | Read more here - Social and Behavioral Implications for COVID-19 Testing in Delaware's Underrepresented Communities
Delaware State University | Read more here - Addressing Low-Income Housing Resident Mistrust in COVID-19 Guidance
Eastern Virginia Medical School | Read more here - RADx-UP CDCC
Duke University | Read more here - Reaching Communities through the Design of Information Visualizations (ReDIVis) Toolbox for Return of COVID-19 Results (RCR)
Columbia University Health Sciences | Read more here - A Community Health Worker Intervention to Identify and Decrease Barriers to Pre-Procedural COVID-19 Testing among Los Angeles County Department of Health Safety-Net Patients
A project within the grant: Predicting Diabetic Retinopathy from Risk Factor Data and Digital Retinal Images
Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science | Read more here - Increasing Representation of Black Communities in SARS-Cov-2 Serosurveys by Understanding Barriers and Motivations for Participation
Georgia State University | Read more here - Howard University Research Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities
Howard University | Read more here - Exploring Barriers and Facilitators to Women Who Use Drugs (WWUD) Awareness, Acceptance and Uptake of COVID-19 Testing, the CARE study
Johns Hopkins University | Read more here - Continuous Traumatic Violence and the HIV Continuum of Care Outcomes Among BMSM
Medical College of Wisconsin | Read more here - Bridging the Evidence-to-Practice Gap: Evaluating Practice Facilitation as a Strategy to Accelerate Translation of a Systems-Level Adherence Intervention into Safety Net Practices
New York University School of Medicine | Read more here - Getting Asian Americans INFORMED to Facilitate COVID-19 Testing and Vaccination
University of California, San Francisco | Read more here - Social, Ethical, and Behavioral Implications (SEBI) Research on COVID-19 Testing and Vaccine Uptake among Rural Latino Migrants in Southwest Florida
University of South Florida | Read more here - Expanding Population-Level Interventions to Help More Low-Income Smokers Quit
Washington University | Read more here - Assessing Vaccine Hesitancy and a Pharmacist Led Intervention Model to Increase COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake Among African Americans
Xavier University of Louisiana | Read more here - Leveraging Social Networks to Increase COVID-19 Testing Uptake: A Comparison of Credible Messenger and Chain Referral Recruitment Approaches
New York State Psychiatric Institute | Read more here - HIV/AIDS Clinical Trials Unit (CTU) COVID-19 RADx-UP Supplement
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | Read more here - Obesity Health Disparities Research Center (OHDRC) - COVID-19 Testing Model among Vulnerable Populations: From Community Engagement to Follow-Up
University of Alabama at Birmingham | Read more here - COVID-19 testing in Underserved and Vulnerable Populations Receiving Care in San Diego Community Health Centers
University of California, San Diego | Read more here - Determinants and Outcomes of Nicotine Metabolite Ratio in HIV + Smokers
University of Pennsylvania | Read more here - COVID-19 Testing and Linkage to Care with African American Church and Health Agency Partners
University of Missouri, Kansas City | Read more here - Optimization of a new adaptive intervention to increase COVID-19 testing among people at high risk in an urban community
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Read more here - Safety, Testing/Transmission, and Outcomes in Pregnancy with COVID-19 (STOP-COVID-19 study)
Washington University | Read more here - Epidemiologic Intelligence Network (EpI-Net) to Promote COVID-19 Testing and Prevention Practices Among Socially Vulnerable Communities in Puerto Rico
Ponce School of Medicine | Read more here - Prevention of Substance Use in At-risk Students: a Family-centered Web Program
University of Oregon | Read more here - Protecting Our Community: A Pragmatic Randomized Trial of Home-Based COVID Testing with American Indian and Latino Communities
A project within the grant: Center for American Indian and Rural Health Equity
Montana State University, Bozeman | Read more here - Alive Church Network: Increasing COVID-19 Testing in Chicago’s African American Testing Deserts
Rush University Medical Center | Read more here - Investigating the Effectiveness of COVID-19 Testing Choices, Community Engagement, and Culturally-Embedded mHealth Literacy Delivery in a Medically-Underserved, Community-Based Sample
University of Illinois at Chicago | Read more here - Louisiana Clinical and Translational Science Center
Louisiana State University Pennington Biomedical Research Center | Read more here - Keeping Rural Minority Essential Workplaces Open Safely During The COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Frequent Point-of-Care Molecular Workplace Surveillance for Miners
University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center | Read more here