Intro:  I’m Tanesha Nicole and it’s time for Ask A Scientist.  Today, I’m talking with Dr. Makeda Williams from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute at NIH about implementation science. 

TN: Dr. Williams, how does implementation science work? 

MW: Once a discovery is made, there are opportunities to share those discoveries with policymakers and decision-makers, those who have impact on bringing this to the community. There are opportunities to then create certain drugs or to train specific people or to find funding and resources to then support the implementation into the community. 

TN: How long does this take? 

MW: A long time.  It could take eight to ten years. where there aren’t a lot of resources it can take even longer. 

HOST: Is community engagement critical to implementation science? 

MW: Things move at the speed of trust. If you don’t have the trust of the community, you will not be productive. 

Outro: For more on implementation science, visit nhlbi.nih.gov.