ACCEL Retreat held at the University

Delaware State University recently hosted the Jan. 28 Behavioral and Mental Health Research Retreat, which brought together professionals and higher education researchers for a daylong workshop in the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Center.

About 60 researchers from Delaware State University, the University of Delaware, ChristianaCare, Nemours, and the Medical University of South Carolina participated in a research retreat aimed at creating collaborative community-engaged research to address Delaware’s most pressing behavioral and mental health issues. The keynote speaker was  Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long, who provided an overview of the accomplishments and challenges as identified by the State’s Behavioral Health Consortium. University President Tony Allen kicked the event off with a welcome address.

Workshop sessions topics included: Changing Perceptions and Stigmas, Law Enforcement and Corrections, Education and Prevention, as well as Community Engagement.

Delaware State University was strongly represented by Dr. Dorothy Dillard, Director of the Center for Neighborhood Revitalization and Research, who moderated the retreat; Dr. Rachel Pulverman, who served as a workshop leader; as well as Dr. Melissa Harrington, Vice President of Research, and Dayna Littleton, University ACCEL Program Coordinator, who were also instrumental in the event. Other University faculty members also participated in the retreat.

The Research Retreat was sponsored by the DE-CTR (Clinical Translation Research) ACCEL (Accelerating Clinical and Translational Research) Community Engagement Core. The ACCEL program is funded by the National Institutes of Health and provides resources, networking opportunities, pilot funding, research design and bio-statistical support, mentoring assistance, and community engagement opportunities to help build the research capacity in Delaware.