If You Want to Go Far, Go Together

As academic researchers, we undergo rigorous training in the pursuit of scientific inquiry and discovery. Often, this “pedantic” training, as Gabriel Q. Shaibi states in “How I Learned to Conduct Research That Makes a Difference in the Lives of Arizona’s Kids” (Issues, Winter 2026), limits the imaginative potential to understanding the direct and indirect applicability of research and its translation into real-world impact and policy change. Community outreach and engagement is the antidote to such limitations.

How is research meaningful to improving the health of communities? If you ask this question at the conclusion of a study or intervention, you completely missed the mark. Valuing communities as equal academic partners is the key to unlocking impactful, meaningful, and sustainable research. Communities hold doctorates in discernment and needs of their constituencies. In critical times where research funding to academic institutions is under siege, fostering and cultivating community partnerships is essential to the evolution of culturally responsive and congruent health services delivery research. Recognizing communities as equal partners promotes lasting and trustful relationships while developing the next generation of community health leaders. Shaibi’s approach to extending his research beyond the laboratory and efficacy-focused studies to community-based research for the prevention of childhood type 2 diabetes underscores the evolution of pedantic research to scalable, culturally congruent, and collaborative preventive programs.

Diabetes prevention is multifaceted, requiring many actors across the health ecosystem to tackle its ongoing challenges. By partnering with hospitals, community health centers and clinics, health-related nonprofits, coalitions, policymakers, advocates, and local and state governments, Shaibi has not only redefined his career as a scientist but swiftly directed and reshaped his research to include strategic organizations outside the “ivory tower.” Adapting diabetes prevention research and programs across sectors that are codesigned with communities, owned by communities, and delivered by communities strengthens research continuity, informs public policy, and reinforces sustainable strategies nondependent on academic funding.

Arizona (and I presume some other states) have already cracked the code to the importance of community-level partnerships in research. Similar models have been adopted at the national level. Since its inception in 2010, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), which supports research that generates evidence to improve patient care and outcomes, has awarded $5 billion to more than 2,400 research studies and related projects. In 2024, PCORI released its Foundational Expectations for Partnerships in Research, a rubric of six expectations (Representative Involvement, Early & Ongoing Engagement, Dedicated Funds for Engagement & Partner Compensation, Build Capacity to Work as a Team, Meaningful Inclusion of Partners in Decision Making, and Ongoing Review & Assessment of Engagement) that must be addressed by all PCORI applicants for funding. These building blocks prioritize effective and sustainable engagement of communities, patients, and other partners in research. Analogous to PCORI’s expectations for partnerships in research, Shaibi’s scholarship and career illustrate his journey of moving beyond the traditional academic outputs by establishing integral partnerships to improve the lives of Arizona’s kids (and their families) at risk for diabetes.

There is an African proverb that says, “If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” Shaibi epitomizes this practice through his robust set of collaborators, mentees, and community partners for real-world impact.

Omar A. Escontrías