The community representative council of the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network: Co-design and...

Authentic community engagement requires partnership with those who share similar situations, concerns, or challenges. Community engagement in research can promote equitable representation, help inform important research questions and deliverables, and increase the likelihood of developing relevant and appropriate interventions that will be implemented and sustained. Established in 1999, the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (CTN) is a cooperative agreement within the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and functions as a nationwide consortium of research scientists, treatment providers and other community members collaborating to improve care for substance use in communities across the US. The CTN is committed to community-engaged research. Developed in 2023, the CTN Community Representative Council (CIRCL) formed as a natural progression of this commitment, designed to systematically identify front line challenges warranting research and to recognize emerging community-based innovations - forms of "practice-based evidence" developed in response to real-world needs. CTN Nodes (regional hubs) nominated community members, many of whom are people with lived experience (PWLE) of substance use to serve as Council representatives to enhance the identification, communication, and dissemination of the needs and experiences of individuals served by CTN research across the US. This commentary provides an overview of CIRCL's conceptualization and creation, operation, and impacts on CTN communities in its first year.