The human and economic toll of COVID-19 can only be halted by science.
The path back to society will be found through innovative, collaborative and strategic mobilization of the research enterprise. The clinical and research strengths of UCLA Health and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA position the university to make a transformative and enduring impact on this global pandemic. Together, we are mobilizing a systemwide strategy to understand the development of COVID-19 infection; determine its extent and spread; characterize the immune response; and discover life-saving treatments.
MORE ON OUR COVID-19 RESEARCH →
"The research and development of new diagnostics or therapeutics can only be accomplished in an environment like ours, where patients are the vital component that drives proof of discovery."
- Stephen T. Smale, PhD
Vice Dean for Research
Our strategy to overcome COVID-19 is comprised of myriad scientific tactics.
For our DGSOM community – external funding channels to support COVID research.
Prioritized allocation of financial resources, biospecimens, PPE and research facilities.
Solution Architects: Arash Naeim, MD and Lynn Vavreck, PhD
We all know it is difficult to change others’ opinions, especially when it comes to politics.
So what happens when a pandemic hits and we’re depending on individuals, each with unique beliefs and perceptions, to follow public health recommendations that have become politicized? Arash Naeim, MD, Lynn Vavreck, and their collaborators have turned that question into a systematic study.
“Any effective strategy is going to require 75-80% of the population to become immune or get a vaccine,” Naeim said. “We have to figure out how to bridge gaps in peoples’ perspectives if we’re going to accomplish our goals.”
- Arash Naeim, MD
Support research into the pathogenesis and transmission of the coronavirus family, including COVID-19. Los Angeles is the frontline of community transmission. Scientists and medical and public-health professionals have been preparing for such a pandemic and are working together creatively to tackle this novel pathogen, learn from it, beat it, and prevent new outbreaks in Los Angeles and around the world.
We are gathering volunteers to register for an observational study. This prospective observational registry is for recovered patients who are no longer symptomatic and is intended to serve as a pool of individuals that can participate in studies associated with serological testing, characterization of immunity and immune response, vaccine development, and convalescent plasma donors.
UCLA has several unique advantages in this moment: our scale, our geography, the success of social distancing in our city thus far and our integrated campus.
As the No. 1 health system in California and No. 6 in the nation, UCLA Health has the expertise, scale and reach to make data-informed insights about COVID quickly and accurately. The entire UC system’s COVID positive patient data set is available to UCLA researchers. Our scale and scope enable extraordinary breadth of impact.
As the only public academic medical center in Los Angeles, we have an opportunity to design and implement solutions for equitable health care access during a pandemic. As part of one of the most diverse cities in the nation, the solutions we develop here—based on our heterogeneous data sets—have the potential to be applied globally.
We have the capacity to work across the scientific and clinical spectrum on solving the COVID crisis. The unwavering strength and toughness of all Angelenos acting together will help us get through this.
Every expert is here, in one place, from infectious disease specialists to engineers to ICU nurses to geneticists. This collaboration and connection across disciplines is the rocket fuel behind our innovation and impact.
