Doctoral Student Representative Precision Medicine Research

About this opportunity

The California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine (CIAPM) will award approximately $2.3 million to support around 15 doctoral students conducting representative precision medicine research projects in California over a 2.5-year project term. Precision medicine calls for the modern application of scientific data and clinical practice toward the individualization of prevention, diagnosis, measurement, and treatment of disease and wellbeing. Recognizing that doctoral students are a critical component of the biomedical research enterprise in California, this funding opportunity aims to support doctoral student representative research within California that uses a precision medicine framework, includes underrepresented populations, who have been underrecognized or historically excluded, as research participants, and reduces health disparities, so that research benefits all people within California, and promotes health innovation for all California communities. The applicant must be a current PhD, DrPH, MD-PhD, or other doctoral-level student conducting research at a non-profit California academic research institution and in good academic standing. Research projects must aim to make biomedical research more inclusive, and thus more applicable and beneficial to all Californians. The applicant must describe how their application will support representative research, incorporate a precision medicine approach to reduce health disparities, potentially including social determinants of health data and/or community-engaged research approaches, and enhance their own education and training. Projects must take place in California, and data should focus on people that live in California but are not limited to only California populations. Projects must demonstrate prioritization of recruiting, enrolling, and retaining participants who are from underrepresented populations. The proposed research must include the creation of promotional materials that encourage participation of individuals from underrepresented populations in the research study, and that describe the importance of biomedical research in the context of the research question and populations engaged. The materials would potentially be disseminated by CIAPM in reports or on the CIAPM website, or in convenings to increase capacity among State and non-state employees to discuss and encourage participation in biomedical research with underrepresented communities. Applicants should have identified a specific research project and a mentor(s) that will supervise and support the research. Applicants should not propose to lead an independent clinical trial but can propose research experience within a clinical trial led by a mentor or co-mentor. There is no limit to the number of applications from any single institution. Support, provided by reimbursement, will not exceed $62,000/year, which includes reimbursement for an institutional stipend not to exceed $40,000, tuition, fees, and institutional allowance (e.g. health insurance) not to exceed $18,000, and research/professional development costs not to exceed $4,000 (includes ~$1,500/award period for CIAPM convenings).