Dear RADx-UP partners,

The Consortium is heading into a busy spring season with several events and opportunities to engage across project teams. The April Project-wide Meeting on April 20 will include the Partnering for Impact: Concept Creation Forum, where project team members will have the opportunity to collaborate on ideas for manuscript concepts based on RADx-UP data. The 2023 Scientific Meeting will take place virtually on May 3 and will include poster and oral presentations from 16 RADx-UP project teams as well as two panel discussion sessions with Working Groups. The Community Health Worker Symposium on May 24 will include resources and panel discussions in Spanish and English about opportunities and challenges for supporting community health workers. Lastly, the RADx-UP COVID-19 Equity Evidence Academy on September 27 and 28 will soon be accepting presentation proposals. Keep an eye out for more information about this opportunity, and learn more about the others in this newsletter.

C2G application deadline approaching

The deadline to apply for the final cycle of the RADx-UP Community Collaboration Grant (C2G) is next week. C2G provides $50,000 for community partners to advance capacity, training, support, and community experience with COVID-19 testing initiatives. Community partners must complete the application for C2G by April 28. Don’t miss this opportunity to fund your work!

Learn more about C2G and apply.

Registration is open for the RADx-UP Scientific Meeting

The 2023 RADx-UP Scientific Meeting is right around the corner, taking place virtually on May 3 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. ET. Please register for the meeting to receive Zoom details. Registration and attendance at the meeting are open to all members of the RADx-UP consortium, community partners, and the public.

Register for the Scientific Meeting and view the agenda.

April Project-wide Meeting: Concept Creation Forum

Please be sure to attend the next Project-wide Meeting “Concept Creation Forum” on April 20, 2 p.m. - 3 p.m. ET. This forum will include breakout room sessions on topics to generate analysis concept ideas for future manuscripts. Topics include:

• Trusted sources of information and testing/vaccination behaviors and outcomes
• Prevention behaviors among vulnerable populations and communities
• Interaction between engagement in different testing/vaccination behaviors
• Socioeconomic factors affecting testing, infection, and vaccination
• Structural/environmental factors affecting testing, infection, and vaccination rates
• Association between test access, type, and testing behaviors or outcomes
• Open room if your interest falls outside of the above topics

Collaboration is key to ensuring RADx-UP data and learnings have the greatest impact. Learn about current analysis proposals and their writing teams at the Partnering for Impact homepage. Also submit your own concept there.

Community Health Worker Symposium

The RADx-UP Community Health Worker (CHW) Symposium will take place on May 24, 1 p.m. - 3 p.m. ET. The symposium will showcase a collection of resources and panel discussions to share insights and identify opportunities and challenges for supporting and sustaining CHWs (also known as promotoras). This event was created by the expertise and input from the RADx-UP Working Groups. The symposium will be bilingual with English/Spanish interpretation available. Register today.

Project-wide Meeting presentation recap: West Virginia researchers reduce barriers, administer 150,000+ COVID-19 tests

The December 2022 Project-wide Meeting featured a presentation by RADx-UP researcher Sally Hodder from the West Virginia Practice-Based Research Network. In the summer of 2020, Hodder and her team investigated barriers to COVID-19 testing in West Virginia by conducting focus groups. Based on focus group responses, they implemented three COVID-19 testing strategies. Read more about the project and presentation.

Project-wide Meeting presentation recap: Collaboration guides COVID-19 testing initiative in St. Louis schools

The December 2022 Project-wide Meeting featured a presentation by RADx-UP researchers Sydney Reyes and Summer Reyes from Washington University in St. Louis, and Mike Peoples, the principal at University City High School. Researchers and school leadership across 16 schools collaborated in a COVID-19 testing and contact tracing program. Read more about the project and presentation.

Iowa Environmental Health Sciences Research Center webinar on Disaster Preparedness and Response: Opportunities for a Community Engaged Approach

The Iowa Environmental Health Sciences Research Center Community Engagement Core is holding a zoom seminar on community-engaged approaches to disaster response and preparedness on April 21, 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. CT; 12 p.m. - 1 p.m. ET. Learn more and find the meeting link.

How does water solve a maze?

Check out this fascinating and satisfying video on how water can solve a maze and what happens when air pressure and surface tension get involved. It also gives some tips on the best strategies for people to solve mazes. Watch.