Welcome to the first newsletter from our Center for Transdisciplinary Collaborative Research in Self-Management Science (TCRSS). Since we first received a 2.4 million dollar grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research in September 2014, we have been hard at work to achieve our core mission. Our efforts have focused on two main areas: 1. fostering transdisciplinary collaborations amongst the community and academic departments and 2. supporting TCRSS pilot projects that are developing and testing innovative strategies to enhance self-management knowledge and behaviors to improve outcomes of chronic conditions.
To date, we have created numerous partnerships across The University of Texas at Austin campus that include the various health disciplines, such as School of Social Work, College of Pharmacy, Department of Nutritional Sciences and Dell Medical School, in addition to the Department of Computer Science and Moody College of Communication, to name a few.
We have sponsored and co-sponsored numerous networking and community events to foster new and sustainable partnerships between community organizations and UT academic partners and have hosted several skills-building events on grant writing, informatics and technologic interventions. More information about these events is described in this issue.
In addition, we are currently supporting four pilot studies that incorporate transdisciplinary collaborations to promote patient self-management and improve health outcomes in people with chronic conditions such as heart failure, chronic kidney disease, diabetes, HIV and cancer.
Lastly, we are establishing our Center as a local resource to offer editorial guidance, self-management related grant reviews, and general health promotion within the School of Nursing and throughout the community.
We hope you enjoy this first edition of our TCRSS Newsletter, and that you use this opportunity to get to know our TCRSS staff and the work we are doing. Please feel free to contact us with ideas for collaboration or resources you might find helpful related to transdisicplinary and self-management science. On behalf of our TCRSS team, we wish you a healthy and happy start to 2016!
Warm regards,
Miyong Kim