Our participants indicated that relationship-centered care, in which one's sense of personhood is sought, acknowledged, and worked with, is foundational for effective communication and decision making.

The development of a sustainable network of churches could lead to successful health disparities initiatives.

We assessed church readiness to engage in health disparities research using a newly developed instrument, examined the correlates of readiness, and described strategies that churches used to promote health. We pilot tested the instrument with churches in a church-academic partnership (n = 12). We determined level of readiness to engage in research and assessed correlates of readiness. We also conducted interviews with participating pastors to explore strategies they had in place to support research engagement. Churches scored fairly high in readiness (average of 4.04 out of 5). Churches with a pastor who promoted the importance of good nutrition in a sermon or had a budget for health-related activities had significantly higher readiness scores than churches without such practices. Having a tool to evaluate church readiness to engage in research will inform targeted technical assistance and research projects that will strengthen church-academic partnerships and improve capacity to address health disparities. Keywords spirituality; health disparitiesChurch-academic partnerships are a promising way to reduce health disparities in communities that have been marginalized and mistreated in biomedical research. [1][2][3] Churches hold a central, trusted position, especially in African American communities. In addition, churches have a wealth of expertise and experience in providing education, outreach, and social support to the communities they serve. [4][5][6] Church-academic partnerships based on mutual respect foster understanding, trust, and ownership. These conditions, in turn, enhance the appropriateness, effectiveness, and sustainability of interventions to reduce health disparities. [7][8][9][10][11]

Shaw University, the oldest historically black college or university in the southern USA, recently partnered with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a major research institution in North Carolina, to further develop Shaw’s research infrastructure. One aim of the partnership involved establishing a human research ethics committee and an accompanying administrative structure and research ethics education program. This paper describes the process of developing an entire human research protection program de novo through collaboration with and mentoring by the members of the human research protection program at a nearby major research institution. This paper provides a detailed description of the aims, procedures, accomplishments, and challenges involved in such a project, which may serve as a useful model for other primarily teaching institutions wishing to develop research infrastructure and ethical capacity.

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