Advisory Board in a Virtual World

For the past 6 years, the Adolescence Division of the IU School of Medicine has organized the Advisory Board with the help of staff, community members and colleagues. The purpose of the board is meant to obtain the perspective of youth and their parents in our community by partnering with clinical, research, and program faculty. With the 2020 global pandemic, our way of handling the risk of the virus was to social distance which meant to meet virtually. That included the IUSM Division of Adolescent Advisory Board meetings. Instead of the normal eating dinner, chatting, and face-to-face meetings where perspectives on research are sought, we now have shared screens and breakout rooms on Zoom. The Advisory Board consists of central Indiana high school youth, 10th-12th grade, and their parents. The IUSM Advisory Board seeks people from a broad range of socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and abilities. My project is to report the challenges and successes of conducting the Advisory Board virtually. I plan to survey the parents and youth to gain their perspectives on their comfort level, their ability to participate, and their preferences for meaningful participation.