For each budget period, the evaluation will assess progress in achieving milestones and the short-term and long-term goals for each core/activity and their contributions to the overall goals of MeTRC. The evaluation plan also is intended to provide adequate and valid measure of overall MeTRC outcomes and impact on capacity building for clinical and translational research (CTR) to improve minority health and to reduce or eliminate health disparities at Meharry Medical College (MMC) within the total award period. The core will conduct three kinds of evaluation: Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E): M&E will be an on-going assessment of the program core and overall MeTRC program to assess the extent to which the program is implemented with fidelity, milestones are achieved timely and to identify challenges that must be addressed for the program to succeed. Mid-term Review: At the beginning of year 3 of funding, the evaluator will conduct mid-term review for all cores and overall MeRTC program. The evaluation will assess how far the program has come and what more need to be done for the program to meet its objectives; and Summative evaluation: An independent evaluator will conduct summative evaluation at the beginning of year 5 of funding, to provide an objective assessment of MeTRC effectiveness in building capacity to transform research on health disparities and to improve health of minorities. Evaluation tools will be designed to generate evidence on short- and long-term impact and performance data along the way to assist the evaluation in understanding whether and how MeTRC are reaching expected results and milestones. In addition, the tools will assess the overall impact of MeTRC in facilitating capacity building at MMC for clinical and translational research (CRT) with a focus on health disparities and on diseases that disproportionally afflict underrepresented minorities. The core will also facilitate use of evaluation findings as part of this learning agenda to inform decision making about midcourse corrections and strategic directions. Lessons learned from M&E and mid-term review will be shared with RCTR Network and with similar programs nationally.
NIH ExPorter
NIH ExPorter