568 Collaborative pathways: Insights from an Academic Medical Center (AMC) – Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCU) Translational Research Collaborative Pilot Funding Program

Objectives/Goals: Collaborations between Academic Medical Centers (AMCs) and Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs) are critical to addressing health disparities and building research capacity. Herein, we examine the Duke-NCCU Collaborative Translational Research pilot funding program [2018–2023] to identify opportunities, challenges, and lessons learned from querying key stakeholders. Methods/Study Population: The Duke-NCCU collaborative pilot funding program was launched to support new inter-institutional collaborations that aim to accelerate research discoveries into testing in clinical or population settings. Eight one-year, $50,000 collaborative grants were awarded. Each funded team was assigned a CTSI Project Leader (PL) for project management support. To evaluate the program, we developed surveys targeting principal investigators (PI) and PLs. Questions covered collaboration motivation, goals, outcomes, operational processes, project management support, institutional differences, and challenges. Qualitative analysis will be employed to evaluate the responses and identify common themes. Results/Anticipated Results: The PI survey examines aspects of inter-institutional collaborations, focusing on common themes, such as authorship, definition of success, and institutional culture. The PL survey prompts feedback on managing inter-institutional teams, expectations, and challenges. Select questions were shared between both surveys to capture both perspectives. Surveys were reviewed by members of the Duke CTSI evaluation and team science teams. The PI survey will be disseminated to 16 investigators, while the PL survey will reach 5 project leaders. Built on Qualtrics, each survey takes 20–30 minutes to complete. To encourage participation, incentives will be offered as two $100 gift card drawings. Respondents can choose to complete the survey on Qualtrics or through a recorded and transcribed Zoom session. Discussion/Significance of Impact: AMC-HBCU inter-institutional collaborations drive innovation, workforce development, and equitable dissemination of outcomes. This study exemplifies collaboration, offering insights into translational research collaborations critical to advance equitable healthcare and improving population health.