Celebrating Culturally Centered Addictions Research Training at the Annual C-CART Conference
A hands-on, real-world graduate certificate program
The Culturally Centered Addictions Research Training (C-CART) program, established in 2021, continues to make significant strides in preparing the next generation of clinical researchers dedicated to addressing substance use and substance use disorders (SU/SUDs).
The recent C-CART conference brought together the 2nd and 3rd cohorts of this groundbreaking program, along with community partners like The Guidance Center, to build symbiotic partnerships between clinicians and scholars.
The C-CART program is a graduate certificate initiative at Northern Arizona University designed to equip doctoral students and current clinical service providers with essential research skills and culturally centered practices. These skills are crucial for tackling SU/SUDs in interprofessional and diverse healthcare settings.
About C-CART
Leadership
Julie Baldwin, The NARBHA Institute Vice President for NAU Health, Executive Director for the Center for Health Equity Research, and NAU Regents’ Professor in the Department of Health Sciences, is a Multiple Principal Investigator (MPI) for C-CART.
Ramona Mellott, Dean of the College of Education and Professor in Educational Psychology, leads alongside Baldwin as MPI.
“This program has been instrumental in fostering student success by providing them with critical research skills and culturally centered practices to address substance use and substance use disorders with a comprehensive, interprofessional approach,” according to Mellott.
“The program’s hands-on experiences and collaborative opportunities have empowered our students to make significant contributions in diverse healthcare settings.”
Curriculum
The program targets a variety of disciplines, including counseling, school, and clinical psychology, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and interdisciplinary health, ensuring a broad impact across healthcare fields.
The program’s core objective is to prepare clinicians and doctoral students to become effective clinical researchers.
The curriculum emphasizes addictions research, incorporating both quantitative and qualitative methods, and provides hands-on research experience in real-world primary care, behavioral health, and medically underserved areas.
Key goals include:
- Embracing cultural responsiveness in research approaches
- Identifying the causes and consequences of drug use and addiction
- Developing and applying new health service research strategies
- Conducting comprehensive data analyses and writing effective research narratives
- Exploring innovative treatments for SU/SUDs
2024 C-CART Conference
The annual C-CART conference serves as a vital platform for current and former scholars to share their progress, network with community partners, and foster collaborative relationships.
Early-stage researchers and medical professionals often operate in the same arenas, but seldom have organic opportunities to collaborate.
By bringing scholars and community partners together, the C-CART program paves the way for innovative solutions to some of the most pressing issues in public health.
The latest conference featured scholars from the 2nd and 3rd cohorts. The 2nd cohort presented their ongoing projects and research findings in preparation for completion of the program.
For the current cohort, the conference facilitated interactions with community partners, offering a unique “matchmaking” format where scholars and partners could connect and explore mutual interests.
Community and scholarly benefits
The C-CART program offers substantial benefits to both scholars and community partners:
- Scholars gain valuable research experience, academic credit, and the opportunity to work in diverse settings. The program also provides tuition funding for some participants, reducing financial barriers.
- Community Partners benefit from fresh perspectives and innovative approaches to their programs. The conference promotes collaboration and helps integrate early career scholars into ongoing community initiatives.
The future of C-CART
C-CART organizers are working diligently reviewing applications for the next cohort and will begin conducting interviews. Later this summer, the team will host an orientation session designed to introduce the new cohort members to staff, resources, and course expectations. We can’t wait to meet all of our new scholars!
Get involved
Learn more about the graduate certificate program today!
