|
Dear Colleague,
The California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine (CIAPM) has been hard at work this summer supporting an enterprise for equitable outcomes in California, showcasing some of the great work our precision behavioral health projects have accomplished thus far.
In this issue, we offer a heart-felt obituary for Dr. Atul Butte, one of the founding leaders of CIAPM. We then highlight proceedings from the Current Grantees gathering CIAPM hosted in June with our supported research teams.
We next announce a call for applications for CIAPM graduate student interns and highlight an interview with one of our currently supported researchers in the Depression Research Program, Dr. Suzi Hong.
Finally, we are marking your calendars for the next meeting of the California Precision Medicine Advisory Council.
We hope our network remains dedicated to the goals of health equity and we look forward to continuing toward those goals together.
The CIAPM Team
| | | |
In Memoriam: Obituary for Dr. Atul Butte
CIAPM mourns the loss and remembers the life of Dr. Atul Butte, who served as the founding Principal Investigator for the entire CIAPM program when launched at UCSF from 2015-2018. He was the Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg Distinguished Professor, inaugural Director of the Bakar Computational Health Sciences Institute, and Chief Data Scientist for the University of California Health System.
| | |
A member of the National Academy of Medicine, Dr. Butte was recognized in 2013 by President Obama as a White House Champion of Change in Open Science for promoting the open access of data for the research community.
Dr. Butte was a fierce advocate and entrepreneur in the biomedical data science space, cofounding three health and data science companies and was a leading voice in the use of health data and artificial intelligence to further the vision of precision medicine and equitable outcomes. As such, Dr. Butte’s work transformed the standard view by which integrated health, data, and research programs are approaching health and treating patients, including those with under-resourced or rare conditions.
Dr. Butte was pivotal in championing the original $3 million in state funds that started the CIAPM program, shepherding a pilot cohort of two research projects, expanding the program to 8 funded projects, and designing the request for proposals for the Cancer Disparities Research Program before being transitioned to the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research.
Read about Dr. Butte’s lifetime of achievements in a UCSF obituary, a recent UCSF article highlighting his induction into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a 2015 interview with KQED about the inauguration of the CIAPM program.
| | CIAPM 'Current Grantees' Gathering | | |
CIAPM gathered all currently funded research projects for a Current Grantees meeting at the California Health and Human Services headquarters on May 30th in Sacramento. Both lead investigators and team members from the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Depression research portfolios were represented.
More than 20+ researchers across 10 CIAPM-funded projects showcased data and perspectives, project goals and achievements, lessons, and methods for community engagement and participant recruitment. Depression researchers further highlighted early success in collaborations amongst each other and their community partners.
| | Common themes during this meeting included how to clinically measure and design interventions for ACEs, as well as how to embed community throughout the research process, from inception to implementation. Researchers also suggested how to identify new markers of ACEs and how to create classifications for precision diagnostic care, paying attention to the different manifestations of ACEs from patient-to-patient. Discussions further delved into how to maintain and develop community partnerships and how to sustain, scale up, and adapt their research projects after CIAPM-funding. | |
CIAPM Internship: Call for Applications
The team is expanding to bring aboard a graduate student pursuing a degree in a relevant biomedical science at a UEI-eligible California institution for four months, with the potential for extension.
The intern will support science communications and research administration, joining staff in meetings and engage with program-wide efforts, including administration of research projects, generate, design, and distribute graphics and reports, and contribute to the development of equitable biomedical research.
Applications open August 1 and are welcome through September 5th, 2025 for a 12-24 hours/week (flexibly scheduled) remote internship position starting mid-October. UEI account and login are required to apply to the positions.
| |
| |
An Interview with Dr. Suzi Hong
CIAPM-Funded Project: Making the Unseen Seen Trial of Depression (MUST-D): Scrutinizing social determinants of depression to advance precision and equitable care
| | | | Dr. Suzi Hong is a Professor of Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine at University of California San Diego and Professor and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs in the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science. Her group’s research areas include the interface between mental and physical health with a focus on brain and immune system interactions. | | |
Q: How does your work address health inequities in depression within the State of California? What is impactful or novel about your work?
"It is widely accepted that social determinants of health (SDoH) are a primary source of health disparities. Evidence also supports that unequal access to social resources perpetuates inequities in mental health outcomes. Individuals from marginalized communities are disproportionately impacted by mental illness in California, including depression and its disease burden. As shown in Kaiser Family Foundation’s 2021 report, for example, the COVID-19 pandemic had disproportionately negative impacts on SDoH within marginalized communities, which in turn widened disparities in mental health outcomes in California. Yet, gathering and monitoring of SDoH, or incorporating them into clinical care decision making, is largely inadequate. The problem is amplified for low-income and socially marginalized populations.
The primary goal of our demonstration project is to identify social-environmental factors that confer risk and resilience to those with depression among marginalized communities. As mentioned, evidence-based depression care through incorporation of SDoH for depression (SDoH-D) and measurement-informed care is lacking, and we aim to change that. If our project is successful, the findings will be impactful in improving equity in depression care and outcomes for the marginalized individuals in California while advancing adaptive and SDoH-informed care for depression."
For the rest of this inspiring interview, visit the CIAPM News page.
| | California Precision Medicine Advisory Council | | |
September CA Precision Medicine Advisory Council (CPMAC) Meeting
The California Precision Medicine Advisory council (CPMAC) last met virtually on June 23rd, 2025. The next gathering of the CPMAC is scheduled for Friday, September 19 from 1-4PM, where the public can view the proceedings virtually. Please follow the link below to register for the webinar.
The September agenda will be posted on our Meetings webpage ahead of the next meeting. The meeting minutes from February are available on the CIAPM meetings page.
| | CIAPM Network in the Media | | |
The purpose of the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Postdoctoral (Parent F32) award through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is to enable promising postdoctoral students to obtain individualized, mentored research training from appropriate faculty sponsors while conducting biomedical research in scientific health-related fields relevant to the missions of the participating NIH Institutes and Centers.
Multiple deadlines, with next deadline being August 8, 2025.
NASEM - Christine Mirzayan Fellowship 2026
The National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), is a 12-week fellowship for current and recent terminal degree students in science and technology policy in Washington D.C. The program immerses scientists in the essential skills and knowledge to navigate policy careers, as well as a living stipend and networking opportunities.
The deadline for this fellowship application is August 20, 2025.
Nature – Publication Call for Health Outcomes of Adversity in Early Life
The Springer Nature Group collection of Nature Communications and Scientific Reports journals are welcoming submissions investigating health outcomes resulting from adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in early life, with particular focus on susceptibility or resiliency and studies in prevention, epidemiology, pathophysiology, treatments, and socioeconomic factors.
The deadline for these submissions is September 29, 2025.
The GHES fellowship is for current predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees with the ability to take 10-12 months away from their primary research programs and propose a research project with two collaborating mentors in the U.S. and one of 16 training sites in a low- or middle-income country (LMIC) to conduct cross-disciplinary training in healthcare, chronic or communicable disease, environmental health, maternal and child health, and more.
The deadline for this application is October 1, 2025.
NIH - Advancing Healthcare for Older Adults from Populations that Experience Health Disparities (R01 - Clinical Trial Optional)
The purpose of this NIH initiative is to advance the science and implementation of innovative multi-level health care research for older adults from populations that experience health disparities. The initiative will support research designed to (1) gain a better understanding of appropriate screening, diagnostic, and clinical care guidelines in a primary care setting, (2) explore shared decision-making that is needed to enhance care planning and patient agency between clinicians and care teams with the older adult and their caregiver(s), and (3) identify effective strategies for care coordination.
Multiple deadlines, next deadline October 5, 2025.
RWJF - Exploring Equitable Futures Proposals
This call for proposals through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is to support projects that seed new and unconventional ideas that can advance health equity. Funded project topics can include artificial intelligence, decreasing trust in institutions and those effects on health science knowledge, health equity, incentive structures to produce, disseminate, and apply health science knowledge for improved outcomes, and more.
Deadline for this proposal call is October 15, 2025.
| |
National Academy for State Health Policy Annual Conference
September 8-10 | San Diego, CA
Hundreds of state leaders from all 50 states and Washington, DC will convene at NASHP’s 38th Annual Conference, bringing attention to timely issues facing state health policymakers and highlight innovative solutions shared by the nation’s leading experts. Topics include Medicaid, public health, health care costs, coverage and access, behavioral health, workforce, maternal and child health, primary care, caregiving, aging, and much more.
| | |
ASGCT Policy Summit 2025
September 25-26 | Washington, D.C.
The annual American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ASGCT) is holding a policy summit, bringing together policymakers, industry leaders, and science stakeholders to discuss current issues and solutions in the field of gene and cell therapy, including care and payment mechanisms, research bottlenecks, artificial intelligence, and regulatory and policy hurdles.
| |
Digital Mental Health & LGBTQ+ Youth: Industry, Research, & Clinical Care - National Summit
September 29 | Santa Clara, CA
This interdisciplinary conference, hosted in person at the campus of Santa Clara University, will focus on using digital tools to increase safe, ethical, and inclusive access to mental health care, with a special emphasis on the well-being of LGBTQ+ youth.
| | |
Personalized Medicine Conference
November 13-14 | Dana Point, CA
The Annual Personalized Medicine Conference is designed to provide attendees with an opportunity to develop collaborative solutions to shared challenges in personalized medicine.
| | Find more external events on CIAPM's website. | |
| | |
1215 O Street, 11th Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814
Reception Desk: (916) 322-2318
E-Mail: ciapm@chhs.ca.gov
| | | | | | |
