Community Engagement and Outreach Core

The Community Engagement and Outreach Core (CEOC) engages populations affected by health disparities with the goal of developing community-based research priorities to translate into improved health outcomes.

Main Objectives

• Engage community advisory boards to identify and prioritize the health issues and concerns of TRANSCEND’s communities and populations
• Assist investigators in developing culturally appropriate, community-engaged research projects and facilitate the recruitment and retention of research participants
• Utilize effective communication strategies to engage and connect communities, community
  clinics, investigators, and TRANSCEND leadership and staff for their mutual benefit

Glenda Lindseth, Director of the CEOC

Dr. Glenda Lindseth, a Chester Fritz Distinguished Professor, has served as Associate Dean/ Director of Research at the UND College of Nursing and Professional Disciplines for 12 years. She has conducted randomized clinical trials and research studies focusing on dietary intake, sleep, cognition, and neuro-behavioral outcomes that have been funded by the DoD Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program and the NIH for nearly 30 years. She also serves as PI for the NIH funded Northern Plains Center for Behavioral Research (NPCBR) which has supported up to 30 investigators whose work focuses on behaviorally-mediated disorders and the behavioral needs of vulnerable, underserved populations. Current studies within the NPCBR are focused on suicide prevention and SAMSHA-funded opioid treatment and prevention studies. Investigators are also working on Child and Family Services for Adopted and Foster children while others are collaborating with Biomedical Engineering on their research. Dr. Lindseth has served as PI for the NIH P20-funded Northern Plains Center for Behavioral Research Translation project with nearly 80 investigators and clinical agencies collaborating from all quadrants of the state of ND. She was a Co-I on an NIH-funded Bridges to the Doctorate program to promote the admission of American Indian students into doctoral study. She has also mentored nearly 50 underrepresented undergraduate and graduate students within her studies funded by programs such as the NIH Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) program, NSF, DoD, and the Howard Hughes Medical Research Institute. Dr. Lindseth has advised nearly 80 thesis and dissertation students whose work ranged from issues following the administration of anesthesia in surgery to retention issues of nurses in Critical Access Hospitals on the Northern Plains. Currently, she works with underrepresented students as the PI of the NIH-funded T34 U-RISE Research Training program
and the recently funded MARC T34 Research Training program at UND.

Loretta Heuer, Co-Director of the CEOC

Dr. Loretta Heuer is a Professor and previous Associate Dean at the NDSU School of Nursing. As a Robert Wood Johnson Fellow, Dr. Heuer developed and directed the Red River Valley Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers (MHSF) Diabetes Health program for 15 years. She also established the Diabetes Lay Educator Program (DLEP), which served Hispanic Migrant Farmworkers in Minnesota, North Dakota, and Texas. Through the National Diabetes Health Disparities Collaborative, the MHSI DLEP received the Outstanding Rural Health Program Award from the National Rural Conference for its excellent outcomes in improving diabetes care in Community Health Centers. Dr. Heuer has collaborated with the Spirit Lake Nation over the past 12 years as PI of the Sustaining Career Pathways for American Indian Health Professionals in North Dakota. This grant had multiple outcomes in collaboration with Cankdeska Cikana Community College, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and the Columbia University Medical School to teach public health courses and develop workforce and health activities for American Indian youth. Through her funded research, she is examining the effectiveness of the Spirit Lake Nation Enhanced Training and Services Program to “End Abuse in Later Life” grant, the Spirit Lake Dementia Caregiver Project, and the Alzheimer’s Disease Programs Initiative in Indian Country.

David Schmitz, MD, Community Physician At-Large

Dr. Schmitz is Chair of Family and Community Medicine at UND and has extensive expertise in training and retaining physicians in rural and underserved areas including focusing on improvement in Critical Access Hospitals and Community Health Centers. Dr. Schmitz will serve as the Community Physician At-Large (CoPAL) to provide information on concerns and opportunities for COEC engagement with ND rural hospitals to the CEOC Directors and the Admin Core.