OneFlorida+ citizen scientist receives scholarship to attend PCORI annual meeting

Angela Howard, a citizen scientist with the UF Clinical and Translational Science Institute (UF CTSI) and a member of the OneFlorida+ Executive Committee, received a scholarship to attend the 2022 Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. The meeting takes place in Arlington, Virginia on Oct. 26-27 and online.  

PCORI’s Annual Meeting brings together members of the healthcare community, including researchers, patients, caregivers, clinicians, insurers, health system representatives, and other stakeholders. The event serves as a report to the nation on PCORI’s progress in funding initiatives to determine which care approaches work best, for whom, and under what circumstances.

To support inclusive and equitable representation among diverse stakeholders who may benefit from and/or contribute to attendance at the meeting, PCORI invites patients, caregivers and PCORI ambassadors to apply for scholarships to attend the meeting and share their perspectives. These scholarships cover the recipient’s travel and hotel expenses, as well as a per diem allowance.

“It’s an honor to be selected to attend this PCORI meeting,” Howard said. “As a first-time attendant, I aspire to learn new ways to become a more effective stakeholder and to make connections with others who share the common interest of serving patients and their families in research.”

Howard joined the UF Institute for Child Health Policy (ICHP) and the UF College of Medicine in August 2018 as a patient advisor for the ROSE project, a virtual health navigator and mobile app being developed by a team of UF researchers.

Howard became a member of the CTSI’s Citizen Scientist program in December 2018. As a citizen scientist, she serves on the CTSI’s Learning Health System committee and the OneFlorida+ Executive Committee.

As a staff member at ICHP, Howard has attended and collaborated on various studies and research events, like the “un-meeting on rural health and health equity” and IPRO, or Integrating Patient-Reported Outcomes for Patient-Centered Pain Care. She was named as a co-author for “Implementation Context for Addressing Social Needs in a Learning Health System: A Qualitative Study,” published in the Journal of Clinical and Translational Science in August 2021.

Patient scholarship recipients are selected for their involvement with patient-centered outcomes research and related initiatives. Additional criteria are the applicant’s potential to elevate underrepresented communities, and to diversify geographic representation at the meeting.

Other scholarship criteria include the applicant’s prior involvement with PCORI and/or PCORI-funded projects, previous PCORI Annual Meeting attendance and scholarship receipt, and the applicant’s identification as a patient, caregiver, or patient representative.