Engagement of understudied populations as community change: The South Texas ADRC model

Authors

• Gladys E. Maestre, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of MedicineFollow
• Neela K. Patel, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
• Rosa V. Pirela, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of MedicineFollow
• Robin C. Hilsabeck, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
• Kendra Stine, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of MedicineFollow
• Neyra García, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine
• Roberto Reyes, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine
• Omar Oropeza, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine
• Cristian Maestre, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of MedicineFollow
• Jesus D. Melgarejo, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of MedicineFollow
• Sarah Williams-Blangero, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow
• Ney Alliey Rodriguez, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of MedicineFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-1-2026

Abstract

Many populations experiencing the highest burdens of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias remain understudied, in part because traditional recruitment and retention models are insufficient to support sustained engagement. The Outreach, Recruitment, and Engagement Core (OREC) of the South Texas Alzheimer's Disease Research Center reconceptualized participant recruitment as a long-term system change in a Hispanic-majority, urban–rural region. OREC institutionalizes shared power through community advisory governance, aligns research protocols with local lived realities (through patient navigators, community health workers/promotores, and decentralized access points), and employs a data-driven feedback loop for continuous improvement. In 1 year, 46 outreach events touched 10,134 individuals (71% Hispanic) and generated 172 new registry enrollments. Qualitative engagement (focus groups/key-informant interviews) progressed to high-sensitivity topics (e.g., brain donation), signaling maturation of trust. This shift from outreach to reciprocity infrastructure reflects a systems-level change, one that lowers barriers, builds trust, and enables research participation to become routine rather than exceptional.

Comments

© 2026 The Author(s). Alzheimer's & Dementiapublished by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Alzheimer's Association.

This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non‐commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

Recommended Citation

Maestre, G. E., Patel, N. K., Pirela, R. V., Hilsabeck, R. C., Stine, K., Epps, F. R., Garcia, N., Santiago-Mejias, S., Reyes, R., Satizabal, C. L., Mejia-Arango, S., Sullivan, A. C., Oropeza, O., Gireud-Goss, M., Rodriguez, H., Trevino, H., Ramirez, A., Young, V. M., Alliey-Rodriguez, N., LaRoche, A., … Seshadri, S. (2026). Engagement of understudied populations as community change: The South Texas ADRC model. Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association, 22(8), e71695. https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.71695

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Publication Title

Alzheimer S and Dementia

DOI

10.1002/alz.71695

Academic Level

faculty

Mentor/PI Department

Neuroscience