Introduction Engaging communities in research is an efective strategy for community health improvement as it provides practitioners and researchers with data to inform the development of targeted health interventions and research. Community research engagement can facilitate the establishment of trust, mutual respect, and understanding between academic researchers and community stakeholders. 1,2 In addition, engagement has the power to spark research that is transformative, innovative, and challenging to the status quo. 2–5 Finally, community-engaged inquiry can facilitate the translation of research into both practice and policy. 4,6 As such, community engagement is essential to the work of Clinical Translational Science Award (CTSA) centers that are charged with improving the “efciency and speed” of clinical and translational research. Until recently, however, much of the focus has been on the frst phase of translation, 7 and only a small percentage of CTSA resources have been directed to community engagement. Recognizing the importance of community in the translation of research into practice and policy, the Center for Aligning Researchers and Communities for Health (ARCH), the community engagement component of the Tufs University Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), implemented an exploratory research study to examine community health priorities identifed by stakeholders from Tufs University CTSI catchment area neighborhoods. Tis paper describes the study fndings and implications for CTSA sites. Background The Tufts University CTSI was established in August 2008 with funding from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), National Institutes of Health (NIH). 8 Te Tufs CTSI is committed to engaging local communities in biomedical research and has included a variety of stakeholders representing multiple community interests in its work. 8 Between March and May of 2009, ARCH researchers set out to collect exploratory data in three of its primary catchment areas in order to understand how these communities conceptualize clinical and translational research, and how they defne health-related research priority areas. Te overall goal of the study was to inform CTSI activities and community engagement eforts, as well as inform strategies for approaching community outreach and partnership. Te three communities targeted were Somerville, Boston’s Chinatown neighborhood, and the Roxbury/Dorchester neighborhoods of Boston, all host communities to Tufs University institutions. In addition, these communities comprise diverse racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic populations, which are disproportionately impacted by health disparities. Participatory models of research, in which communities are actively engaged in the research process through partnerships with academic institutions, have become central to the national prevention research agenda, as articulated by the NIH, 9 the Institute of Medicine (IOM), 10 and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 11 Academic- community partnerships in metropolitan areas like these are being launched in an efort to address the disproportionate burden of chronic diseases among urban residents, particularly persons of color. 12–14 The City of Somerville is home to the Tufts University Schools of Arts and Sciences and Engineering. Somerville is a community of approximately 77,500 residents settled on four square miles of land, making it the most densely populated city in New England. 15 Historically, Somerville has been referred to as a gateway community for new immigrants to the United States. Like other Massachusetts communities and similar to the rest of the state, new migrants to Somerville are largely from Latin America, the Caribbean, and Asia. Twenty-nine percent of Somerville residents are foreign born and 35% speak a language other than English. 15 Following a similar trend seen across US Community Conceptualizations of Health: Implications for Transdisciplinary Team Science Linda S. Martinez, Ph.D. 1 , Carolyn L. Rubin, Ed.D., M.A. 2 , Beverley Russell, Ph.D., M.P.H., B.S.N. 3 , Laurel K. Leslie, M.D., M.P.H. 4 , and Doug Brugge, Ph.D. 5 1 Community Health Program, Tufts University School of Arts and Science; 2 Tufts Clinical Translational Science Institute, Tufts University School of Medicine; 3 The Center for Com- munity Health Education Research and Service; 4 Tufts Clinical and Translational Science Institute, Tufts Medical Center Floating Hospital for Children; 5 Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, USA. Correspondence: Linda S. Martinez (Linda.Martinez@tufts.edu) DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-8062.2011.00289.x WWW.CTSJOURNAL.COM 163 VOLUME 4 • ISSUE 3 Abstract Objective: This exploratory study set out to identify how communities in the Tufts University Clinical Translational Science Institute (CTSI) catchment area define health-related research priority areas. Methods: Three focus groups comprising community stakeholders were conducted in three communities. Participants were repre- sentatives from community-based organizations and health centers. A systematic content analysis was performed that involved the identification, labeling, and categorization of data followed by thematic analysis. Results: Participant conceptualizations of health and health priorities were not formulated in the context of specific disease condi- tions, such as diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, or asthma. Instead, participants described contextual factors including social, environmental, economic, and political conditions that influence health and health behavior. Conclusions: Respondents in the Tufts University CTSI catchment area, like many diverse urban communities, described multiple interconnected social determinants of health and well-being. As such, they were interested in research that focuses on “upstream” areas of intervention as opposed to disease prevention at the individual level. In addition, respondents were interested in research that would catalyze community change. Clin Trans Sci 2011; Volume 4: 163–167 Keywords: community engagement, research partnerships, social determinants of health, team science