• Gryphon Login
  • MyCourses
  • Alumni
  • UCLA Health
  • Contact Us
COVID-19 DGSOM Updates

Coronavirus Information

COVID-19 DGSOM Updates
  • MD Students
  • Research
    • COVID-19 Research Spotlights
    • Program Areas
    • Clinical Trials
    • COVID-19 Research Funding
    • Operations and Governance
  • #TeamLA
    • Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
    • Cultural North Star
    • How you can help
  • FAQ
  • Operations Updates
    • COVID-19 Policies
    • Reporting Resources
  • Support Services
    • Child Care Support
    • COVID Communication
    • DGIT Support
    • Facilities
    • Town Halls and Task Forces
    • Wellness Resources
  • Giving
  • Gryphon Login
  • MyCourses
  • Alumni
  • UCLA Health
  • Contact Us

Coronavirus Information

COVID-19 Research Grant Program

  1. Home
  2. COVID-19 DGSOM Updates
  3. Research
  4. Operations and Governance
  5. Universal Intake Process
  6. COVID-19 Research Grant Program

Request for Applications (RFA)

Share this

COVID-19 Research Grant Program: Health Equity, Clinical, Translational, and Basic Science Research

Sponsored by the David Geffen School of Medicine (DGSOM) and the Broad Stem Cell Research Center (BSCRC)

Strategic Vision

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:

  1. Support research initiatives that address local and nationwide COVID-19-related inequities with respect to disease susceptibility, prevention, treatment, public health monitoring, access to care, and health outcomes. In addition, support action-oriented projects that directly address the underlying socio-structural inequities that have resulted in the disparate health, healthcare, and social outcomes that have emerged.
  2. Support the most innovative basic and translational research efforts that have the potential to improve our understanding of SARS-CoV-2 infection, the COVID-19 disease, and its physiological manifestations, with an emphasis on projects that may ultimately lead to more effective therapeutic approaches.
  3. Facilitate clinical research activities in the areas of therapeutic and vaccine development and evaluation, as well as viral and antibody testing and the analysis of other host responses that have the potential for near-term impact on patient treatment and containment of the COVID-19 pandemic.
  4. Catalyze efforts to prepare society, as well as the scientific and healthcare enterprises, to respond more rapidly, effectively, and equitably to future infectious disease epidemics and pandemics.

DGSOM/BSCRC COVID-19 Grant Program

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.

Funding Opportunity Time Period

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.

Contact Information:

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

Eligibility and Evaluation Criteria

General Eligibility:
  • The Lead PI must be a UCLA faculty member in the Regular Professor, In-Residence Professor, Clinical X Professor, or Health Sciences Clinical Professor series. Co-investigators from other institutions can be included, but grant funds must remain at UCLA.
  • The Lead PI on each application must hold a UCLA faculty appointment on the Westwood campus or at Santa Monica Hospital, Olive View-UCLA, Harbor-UCLA, Greater Los Angeles VA, or at Charles R. Drew University (Funds will generally need to remain at UCLA).
  • An eligible PI may submit only one application as Lead PI.
  • Faculty who identify with a group historically underrepresented in science and medicine are strongly encouraged to apply.
  • Awardees must be ready to initiate the research immediately and no later than two weeks following issuance of the award letter.

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:

  1. Scientific report – status of research and progress to date.
  2. List of publications made possible by the award (if any).
  3. List of external funding applied to/received/planned as a result of the award.
  4. Financial report.

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:

General evaluation criteria for all Planning Grant applications and subsequent Full Grant applications:

  • Novelty, significance, and potential public health impact of the project.
  • Qualifications of the Lead PI, Co-PIs, and Co-Investigators.
  • Strength of the research plan.
  • Potential for the project to improve COVID-19-related health, healthcare, and/or social inequities, especially in Los Angeles County (whenever possible, this issue should be addressed in Clinical, Translational, and Basic Science applications in addition to Health Equity applications).
  • Potential for the funding to lead to extramural support.

Please note:

  • Applications that require access to UCLA patient specimens or data, that propose clinical trials, or that require other UCLA Health resources, must obtain prior approval from the COVID-19 Scientific Prioritization and Feasibility Committee. Register or request approval →
  • Applications that involve live SARS-CoV-2 virus experiments and therefore require access to UCLA’s BSL3 facility must obtain prior approval from the UCLA High Containment Use Committee. Request approval →
  • Applications that are primarily for equipment purchases are not suitable for this funding mechanism.
  • Research proposals should not directly overlap with actively funded projects.
  • The review processes for grant submissions are confidential and applicants will not receive comments or scores.

Application Instructions

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 →

  • A one-to three-page document consisting of:
    • Project title.
    • The names and academic titles of the Lead PI and any Co-PIs.
    • A concise description of the research proposal, preliminary results (if any), goals, and milestones.
    • For all applications (whenever possible), a brief description of how the project might address health, healthcare, and/or social inequities, and how consideration of inequities impacted the design of the study. See examples below:
 
    • Dissemination of study findings and health education to under-resourced communities and community-based organizations.
    • Collaboration with health services, dissemination and implementation science, and other clinical researchers to translate your work to interventions for under-resourced communities and vulnerable populations.
    • Explicit focus on racial/ethnic minority groups, vulnerable populations (e.g., people experiencing homelessness), and others who may not historically have benefitted from medical research.
    • Interventions that directly address health, healthcare, and social inequities.
    • Studies that seek to inform specific policy change and/or involve partnerships with policymakers affecting populations experiencing inequities related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
    • Community partnership and engagement in the design and conduct of the proposed research, interpretation of study results, and/or dissemination of findings.
    • Recruitment procedures to ensure the study sample is representative of the greater Los Angeles community, inclusive of race, ethnicity, income, documented/undocumented status, privately insured/publicly insured/uninsured status, and other relevant characteristics.
    • Analyses of healthcare, administrative, or other data that attend to the representativeness of their samples, inclusive of the above.
    • Mixed methods and multi-level study designs that capture important contextual data to inform the interpretation of study results and elucidate socio-structural drivers of inequities.
    • Creation of sustainable services or supports for under-resourced communities that will continue after the conclusion of the study.
    • Studies that address other Health Equity research priority areas (See last section of this page).
  • One page maximum of references.
  • A one-page total budget (up to $250,000 in total direct costs) and breakdown of projected expenses, as follows:
    • Personnel: Lead PI and Co-PI salaries not permitted (research staff salaries and benefits only).
    • For supplies, include major supply categories only.
    • Equipment expenses strongly discouraged.
    • Animals.
    • Ohter expenses.
  • NIH-style Biosketches for the Lead PI and up to two Co-PIs or key Co-Investigators.
  • Compliance approvals for each PI and Co-PI (Must be provided before funds are released).
    • COVID-19 Scientific Prioritization and Feasibility Committee.
    • High Containment Utilization Committee (HCUC).
    • Institutional Review Board (IRB).
    • Animal Research Committee (ARC).
    • Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Research Oversight (hPSCRO) Committee.
    • Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC).

Health Equity Research Priority Areas

PUBLIC-ACADEMIC-COMMUNITY PARTNERED INTERVENTIONS AND SERVICES

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:

  • Telemedicine.
  • Public service announcements.
  • “Ask the doctor” podcasts.
  • Video chats.
  • Intervention in an UCLA Health digital venue (e.g., UCLA Health Zone radio show and podcast).
POLICY RESEARCH

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

HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH TO ADDRESS INEQUITIES

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

MEDICAL EDUCATION AND ADVOCACY

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

Like Us on Facebook Follow Us on Twitter Subscribe to Our Videos on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Connect with Us on LinkedIn Follow us on Pinterest Follow us on Flickr Follow us on Sharecare
Top 10 U.S. Medical Schools
  • Giving
  • Contact Us
  • Diversity
  • Emergency
  • Maps & Directions
  • Publications
  • Directory
  • Report Misconduct
  • Volunteer
  • Biomed Library
  • Newsroom
  • Smoke-Free
  • Sitemap
  • Terms of Use
  • Report Broken Links
Top 10 U.S. Medical Schools
Like Us on Facebook Follow Us on Twitter Subscribe to Our Videos on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Connect with Us on LinkedIn Follow us on Pinterest Follow us on Flickr Follow us on Sharecare