Sponsored by the David Geffen School of Medicine (DGSOM) and the Broad Stem Cell Research Center (BSCRC)
As the COVID-19 pandemic spread across our country and the world in Spring, 2020, UCLA and the David Geffen School of Medicine (DGSOM) were faced with an obligation and unprecedented challenge to use scientific approaches to address its devastating impact on human health and its diverse impacts on our community. To meet this obligation and challenge, Task Forces in Clinical, Basic/Translational, and Health Equity Research were established, along with an Oversight COVID-19 Research Committee (OCRC). See all task forces and committees →
These committees aim to facilitate and coordinate the diverse COVID-19 research activities—from laboratory research to clinical trials to public health and policy research - that, to date, have been initiated or envisioned by more than a hundred UCLA faculty, their research teams, and their collaborators. Using funds provided by selfless donors and philanthropic organizations, short-term grants were provided, with an initial emphasis on projects that had the greatest potential to impact the course of the pandemic’s first wave.
We now will continue this grant program with a clear set of short-term and long-term objectives:
In recognition of the strategic vision described above, the DGSOM and UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center (BSCRC) will continue to accept and rapidly review funding applications that align with any of the above objectives. Applications are especially encouraged for COVID-19 health services, health policy, public health, social medicine, and other research projects on health equity priority areas (see below). Moreover, all researchers proposing clinical, translational or basic science research projects are strongly encouraged to design their studies, when possible, to ensure that their efforts will help reduce inequities in delivery and access to care (see application instructions).
Detailed application instructions along with eligibility and evaluation criteria can be found below. Applicants can request up to $250,000 in total direct costs. Applications are brief and are accepted and evaluated on a rolling basis. Final decisions are made by the OCRC, with input from the Task Forces and others with appropriate expertise. Awardees must be ready to initiate the research immediately and no later than two weeks following issuance of the award letter. Funding is awarded for a six-month period, with three-months of funding committed initially and the remaining 3-months provided after an evaluation of progress. Evaluations are confidential and written reviews will not be provided.
Applications are accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis. This funding opportunity is expected to continue until the end of 2020 or until available funds have been depleted.
Please contact Steve Peckman (speckman@mednet.ucla.edu) for general questions and Task Force leaders for specific questions about funding priorities.
Health Equity Research and Advisory Committee Co-Chairs:
Christina Harris, MD
Enrico Castillo, MD MSHPM
Basic/Translational Science Task Force:
Gay Crooks, MBBS
Emilie Marcus, PhD
DGSOM-CTSI Clinical Research Task Force:
Judith Currier, MD
Arash Naeim, MD
Please Note: The PI of each funded award must submit a three-month progress report and a final six-month report. The reports will include:
Submission and approval of the 3-month Progress Report are required for continued funding.
Acknowledgment: All publications and presentations resulting from research projects supported by the RA should acknowledge the "UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine - Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research Award Program".
General evaluation criteria for all Planning Grant applications and subsequent Full Grant applications:
Please note:
The application should include the following items assembled into a single PDF (please use Ariel 11 font for application text with 1-inch page margins). The PDF must be uploaded to the COVID application portal →
Pilot interventions of new health programs and new partnerships with community-based organizations and public agencies that will address COVID-19 health, healthcare, and/or social inequities and will create sustainable infrastructures for long-term service delivery
Multi-level interventions that promote the capacity of community-based organizations to conduct COVID-19 testing, delivery supplies (e.g., PPE), and provide other supportive services to address the health, healthcare, and social inequities in under-resourced communities
Community-based and community-partnered interventions, particularly those that operate at the level of whole communities, which address health, healthcare, and social inequities for entire communities and populations
Innovative interventions that address data, healthcare and social service delivery, and educational outreach needs of local public safety net agencies
Prioritize research that minimizes the “digital divide” to increase access to COVID-19 knowledge and services, increase access to primary care physicians and care during this pandemic:
Studies investigating the effects of COVID-19 healthcare, public health, and public policies, including UCLA and other institutional-level clinical and research policies, on health, healthcare, and social inequities experienced by racial/ethnic minority, under-resourced, and vulnerable individuals and communities
Quality improvement research to address known UCLA and UCLA Health clinical, research, administrative and other processes to address COVID-19-related health, healthcare, and social inequities
Mixed-methods evaluations to identify and develop solutions to COVID-19-related health, healthcare, and social inequities within UCLA research and UCLA Health clinical policies and services
Dissemination and implementation science on evidence-based guidelines, treatments, and services for racial/ethnic minority, under-resourced, and vulnerable communities
Mixed methods studies to investigate individual- to structural-level barriers to COVID-19 care (e.g., testing, public health surveillance, healthcare services) experienced by racial/ethnic minority, under-resourced, and vulnerable individuals and communities
Development and mixed-methods evaluations of undergraduate or graduate medical education and/or advocacy interventions that contribute to DGSOM’s mission of improving health equity and directly benefit under-resourced Los Angeles communities
Studies that incorporate residents, fellows, medical students, psychology interns, undergraduate and graduate students, and other trainees in the delivery of interventions to address COVID-19-related health, healthcare, and social inequities
