Dear Faisal,

The California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine (CIAPM) has worked hard to finish of 2024 with progress towards furthering precision medicine to address health equity. 

In this newsletter, we announce a first-of-its-kind partnership between the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the California Health and Human Services Agency (CalHHS) as the first State Government partner of the NIH All of Us Research Program! We also spotlight the inauguration of the Southern California Consortium of the All of Us Research Program.  

We also provide a reminder of the date of our December CA Precision Medicine Advisory Council (CPMAC) meeting and highlight an interview with an internationally renowned community researcher, part of the CIAPM-funded UCSF research project, Lisa James, MA. Read on for a summary of the 2024 Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Symposium. Finally, we provide additional information about our team’s attendance at the 2025 Precision Medicine World Conference. 

As we approach the holiday season, we wish everyone in the CIAPM network a happy and healthy New Year and look forward to continued growth in 2025! 

The CIAPM Team

Representative Research Collaborative

California Seals First-of-its-Kind Partnership with the National Institutes of Health’s All of Us Research Program

The California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine (CIAPM), has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the NIH’s All of Us Research Program to engage participants and researchers from underrepresented groups in medical research.   

All of Us aims to enroll more than 1 million participants nationwide, building one of the largest and most diverse health databases of its kind, to improve health and the early detection, treatment, and prevention of disease.  

CIAPM will further the scope of All of Us in California by reaching out to and learning from participants and researchers through the Representative Research Collaborative, a new and actively growing network of state and local agencies, universities, community-based organizations, clinics, philanthropists, and researchers.    

Through this partnership, CIAPM will further the potential of proportionate representation in biomedical research nationwide, given the diversity and high-quality of research within the State of California.  

CIAPM Staff Attend the Launch of the All of Us Southern CA Consortium 

On August 8th, CIAPM Staff Drs. David Reiner, Theresa Spezzano, and Ramon Martinez attended the launch of the Southern California Consortium of the All of Us Research Program. This consortium, funded by the National Institutes of Health, is headed by Dr. Hoda Anton-Culver of the University of California, Irvine, with investigation and enrollment sites at MemorialCare of Orange County and Loma Linda University.  

Notable presentations about this critical partnership with these California institutions were given by All of Us’s CEO, Dr. Josh Denny, and CA Surgeon General Dr. Diana Ramos.

CIAPM’s Representative Research Collaborative and All of Us will execute on their MOU by providing support for outreach and engagement in California communities that have been historically underrepresented in research and within the All of Us Research Program.

For more about the new partnership between the All of Us Research Program and the Southern California Consortium, please read UC Irvine’s recent Press Release. 

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Research Program

CIAPM held the 2024 ACEs Research Symposium on December 6, where ACEs investigators presented their progress and preliminary data towards achieving their research aims. The investigators also discussed policy implications, opportunities for collaboration, and their efforts in pursuing follow-on funding. To promote synergy across the ACEs and Depression Research Programs, CIAPM Depression researchers, Drs. Hajcak, Hong, and Yang attended, along with Council Members Drs. Lajonchere and Ramos, and CIAPM staff.

Researcher Spotlight

Lisa James is Vice President of Health at Futures Without Violence. As part of a National Health Initiative on Violence and Trauma, Ms. James has collaborated with health care providers, violence prevention advocates, and health policymakers nationwide to develop national and statewide health care responses to violence and trauma through training, health policy reform, and social norms change.  

She currently is partnering with UCAAN/ACEs Aware to connect ACEs edu-cation to resilience building supports and services available through CalAIM. 

Q: Why are community partnerships important for health research?

“Health research is enhanced by community partnerships at every stage of the project. Community-connected partners can help to ensure outreach is representative and inclusive of that research – especially on a topic as complex as responses to ACEs – and is guided by feedback from the community to uncover culturally-concordant and accessible strategies that build trust and support retention. These partnerships can also result in an improved research design, by aligning the research such that it is relevant at a local level. I have found that fostering that collaboration between the researchers and the communities they aim to serve strengthens the program and contributes to sustainable research programs even after studies are completed.” 

For more of this inspiring interview, read the full interview at the link below. 

California Precision Medicine Advisory Council

December CA Precision Medicine

Advisory Council (CPMAC) Meeting

The CPMAC will reconvene on Monday, December 16, 2024 for the final Advisory Council meeting of the year. The meeting agenda is posted on our Meetings page, and you can register for the Webinar there, and at the link below. 

UCSF ACEs Investigator Featured in Gender Equity Summit by

First Partner Siebel Newsom

Dr. Nicole Bush, co-principal investigator in the CIAPM-supported UCSF project, The Collaborative Approach to Examining Adversity and Building Resilience (CARE) Program, served on a panel of public health experts, tribal leaders, advocates, and survivors raising awareness on women’s health, safety, and well-being, hosted by California First Partner, Jennifer Siebel Newsom. 

Read More on the Governor's Office Press Release Page.

New Publications

UCSF Lead Cancer Investigator, Dr. Elad Ziv and team, co-published an article “Evaluation of multiple breast cancer polygenic risk score panels in women of Latin American heritage” in the journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention.

UCLA Lead ACEs Investigator, Dr. George Slavich and team, published an article “California Stress, Trauma, and Resilience Study (CalSTARS) protocol: A multiomics-based cross-sectional investigation and randomized controlled trial to elucidate the biology of ACEs and test a precision intervention for reducing stress and enhancing resilience” in the International Journal on the Biology of Stress. 

NIMHD - Risk and Protective Factors of Family Health and Family Level Interventions

The National institutes of Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) is soliciting innovative minority health and health disparities research and interventions at the interpersonal level, especially at the family level. Interpersonal level research focuses on the health outcomes associated with specific relationship dyads, family environment, and in healthcare settings, and research is lacking on how, when, and why families are able to leverage resources from their communities.

The deadline for the last submission for new applications of this solicitation is February 05, 2025.

NIH - Understanding the Intersection of Social Inequities to Optimize Health and Reduce Health Disparities: The Axes Initiative

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is soliciting research to understand health at the intersection of social statuses such as race, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, disability, and other contributions to one’s social determinants of health.

The deadline for the last submission for new applications of this solicitation is February 14, 2025.

NAM - Scholars in Diagnostic Excellence Program

This opportunity, funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and in collaboration with the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) and the Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS) is designed to train leaders in implementing and raising awareness of diagnoses, diagnostic safety and quality, and equity in medicine. The program is a one-year, part-time, remote experience.

Applications open in January 2025, with final submission deadline of March 3, 2025.

NHGRI - Webinar on Enhancing Reuse of NHGRI Data Assets

The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) is encouraging the genomics research community to leverage data sets available through NHGRI’s AnVIL web platform for innovative research and secondary analysis projects.

The NHGRI is hosting a pre-application webinar on December 19 about their upcoming Notice of Funding Opportunity in this area of research. Applications open in January 2025, with submissions taken through February 2026. 

37^th Annual CSU Biotechnology Symposium (CSUBIOTECH)

January 9-11, 2025 | Garden Grove, CA

The California State University CSUBIOTECH Annual Symposium is a two-day, cutting-edge biotechnology and product-focused exhibition inviting profess-ionals system-wide and across the academic, government, and industrial sectors. Here, attendees of all career levels can learn about career paths available in the life sciences and collaborate and learn about new innovations. 

ARPA-H Advancing Clinical Trial Readiness (ACTR) Initiative – Proposers' Day

January 16, 2025 | Hybrid – New Brunswick, NJ and Virtual

The Resilient Systems Office within the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) will hold a technical presentation webinar demonstrating and testing the readiness, performance, interoperability, and integration of existing clinical trial databases, and transform these infrastructures on the bases of automation, participant identification, and data validation.

The deadline for registering for this event is January 14, 2025. 

NCCIH - Webinar on Adapting Evidence-Based Mind and Body Interventions: Why, When, and How 

February 12-13, 2025 | Virtual 

The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) is hosting a 2-day workshop to feature diverse methods and perspectives about interventions of the mind and body, and necessary adaptations needed for the research pipeline and how to implement these changes. 

Precision Medicine World Conference (PMWC) - Connect With Us!!!

CIAPM is returning to PMWC from February 5-7, 2025 at the Santa Clara Convention Center! 

Please stop by our booth to learn more about the initiative and meet our staff! Members of our CIAPM network, including advisors, state-funded project investigators, collaborators, and more are scheduled to present throughout the program.



Visit us at the booth for recommended sessions, and if you would like to connect with us, please fill out our form below with contact information!