California Awards $1.8 Million to Support Next Generation of Precision Medicine Researchers

Sacramento, CA – The California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine (CIAPM) at the California Health and Human Services Agency announced the launch of its inaugural Next-Gen Representative Research Program, which has awarded $1.8 million to support a cohort of early career researchers in the state. This program will fund a dozen California PhD or MD-PhD student researchers who are advancing innovative precision medicine projects, with a focus on whole person-centered care for underrepresented populations. In the face of a significant decrease in federal research funding to support early career researchers, California is investing in the next generation of our scientific enterprise.  

“California’s strength in biomedical research depends on supporting the next generation of scientists and clinicians. These awards will help promising doctoral students pursue innovative research, advance their careers, and develop discoveries that can improve health outcomes for Californians. By investing in emerging researchers today, we are helping build a stronger, more inclusive biomedical workforce for the future,” said Kim Johnson, Secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency. 

CIAPM will support students for a 2.5-year project term with support for stipend, tuition and fees, and research expenses as well as professional development opportunities and travel to Sacramento for convenings.  Projects focus on ‘representative research’ aimed for the inclusion of underrepresented populations, who have been underrecognized or historically excluded, as research participants, so that research ultimately benefits all Californians and reduces health disparities. 

In total, CIAPM received 35 applications from doctoral students at 12 non-profit California academic research institutions for this funding opportunity. The final twelve awardees come from seven institutions in Northern and Southern California, who were recommended by the Doctoral Student Representative Precision Medicine Research Expert Selection Committee in March. 

CIAPM thanks the members of the selection committee for their time, expertise, and recommendations and applicants for their thoughtful, innovative applications and interest in CIAPM. 

Congratulations to the twelve students and their institutions selected to receive the first doctoral student grants from CIAPM! 

Award Recipients and Research Projects: 

Deborah Adeyemi (UC San Francisco)
Characterizing Variation in Postpartum Readmission Risk Among Black Women Using Intersectional and Bayesian Approaches 

Isaac Bouchard (UC San Diego)
Addressing Chronic Disease Disparities through Representative Generative Artificial Intelligence and Culturally Responsive, Whole-Person Precision Medicine Tools 

Fanying Chen (UC Irvine)
Patient-Reported Outcomes- and ArtifiCial InTelligence-Informed ProactiVe ScrEening to Reduce Disparities Among Majority-Minority Cancer Population in Southern California (PROACTIVE) 

Tracy Chidyausiku (Stanford University)
Integrating citizen-generated lived-experience data with electronic health records to advance representative precision diabetes prevention in low-income older adults in California 

Amber Keith (UC Riverside)
A Data-Driven Approach to Identify Immune Biomarkers to Diagnose and Prevent Pancreatic Cancer in African Americans 

Nikita Mohapatra (UC Davis)
How cumulative social and environmental stress shapes recovery after traumatic brain injury 

Joseph Morrison (UC Davis)
After the Break: Using X-rays and Machine Learning to Catch Bone Healing Problems Sooner 

Sima Naderi (UC San Francisco)
Improving Cervical Cancer Prevention and Screening through Precision Medicine for Afghan Adolescent Girls and Women in California   

Sujin Park (UC San Diego)
Precision-fMRI Guided Biomarkers of Tourette Syndrome in Youth 

Nanase Toda (UC San Francisco)
Uncovering Additional Contributors to Drug-Induced Angioedema Using Genomics, Transcriptomics, and Contemporary Social Determinants 

Julia Ellen Trudeau (UC Irvine)
Precision Biomarkers of Cancer-Related Cognitive Impairment in Racially and Ethnically Diverse Breast Cancer Patients (PRECISION-COG) 

Naying Zhou (University of Southern California)
Germline Copy Number Variants and Pediatric Glioma in a Multi-Ethnic California Cohort 

For more about the award recipients and their projects, please visit their collected biographies, their project descriptions, and the CIAPM Demonstration Projects page.  

About the California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine 

Launched in 2015, CIAPM supports patient-focused research demonstration projects and connects health and medicine stakeholders across California. CIAPM, formally part of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research and now housed within CalHHS, facilitates cross-sector collaborations among the state’s scientists, clinicians, entrepreneurs, and patient participants, enabling them to translate available large data sets and technical innovation into better and equitable health outcomes. To learn more about the initiative, please visit the Precision Medicine webpage.  

Contact: Ramon Martinez, Science Communications Officer
California Health and Human Services Agency (CalHHS)
1215 O Street, Sacramento, CA 95814; (916) 279-6332 
Email – ramon.martinez@chhs.ca.gov