On May 14, Governor Gavin Newsom announced his California Comeback Plan, a $100 billion economic recovery package that outlines comprehensive strategies and major investments so that California can come roaring back from the pandemic. Alongside provisions for immediate services across diverse sectors, the budget also recognizes the need for long-range investment to spur next-generation solutions that will define future advancements. 

In that vein, the Governor’s budget includes $12.4M for precision medicine research. The Legislature will deliberate on all elements of the proposed budget until June 15, when the final bill is expected to come to a vote. 

As part of the Governor’s California Comeback Plan, CIAPM would receive $12.4 million to further the science of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) by supporting community-driven precision medicine projects focused on treating and preventing ACEs with scalable approaches. A total of seven collaborative research teams across the state would receive funding: expansion of the four inspiring projects announced in March, and initiation of three additional projects. These projects were selected and ranked from 39 original applications by CIAPM’s world-class, out-of-state Expert Selection Committee.

Use our social media toolkit to help us raise awareness of this critical investment by Governor Newsom–necessary to lend modern scientific solutions toward the health and wellbeing of the nearly 25 million Californians living with ACEs, particularly youth in underserved communities. 

Watch Governor Newsom’s press conference on the budget via the Governor’s YouTube channel. The Health and Human Services Summary and full budget proposal are also available online. 

Following a competitive application process with many extremely well-qualified candidates, CIAPM is thrilled to bring aboard two new graduate student interns: Jessica Lumian and Affad Shaikh. Their primary project is building an updated California Precision Medicine Asset Inventory, with an improved user interface and greater functionality to foster collaborations between and among communities, researchers, service providers, industry leaders, and others. The current Asset Inventory will remain accessible through this phase of development. 

Jessica Lumian is pursuing a PhD in Microbiology at the University of California, Davis in the Earth and Planetary Sciences department. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Michigan State University. Her thesis research focuses on environmental tolerance mechanisms of Antarctic cyanobacteria using a variety of bioinformatics techniques. She enjoys promoting data availability and reproducibility in scientific research and has served as a prior instructor for The Carpentries, a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching fundamental computational skills and fostering an inclusive data science community. She also assists with the organization of science outreach events through STEM for Girls at UC Davis and is interested in increasing science literacy for all ages. In addition to her graduate work, Jessica studied the accessibility of dialysis treatment centers in California using geographical and statistical analyses. She is enthusiastic about contributing to work promoting equity and accessibility in healthcare.

Affad Shaikh is a business-oriented Data Scientist who recently completed dual master’s degrees in Business Administration and Information Systems and Technology from Claremont Graduate University. He earned his bachelor's degree from the University of California, San Diego in International Studies and is currently finishing a Data Fellowship with The Data Incubator. He looks for solutions and uncovers stories that inform strategy and decision making, and he combines design thinking with a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach. His motivation is to be of service, and to that end he is currently a Board Secretary for the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, a California non-profit dedicated to advocating and serving marginalized communities at the intersection of immigration detention and criminal justice. Prior to his graduate studies, Affad built up the Civil Rights department in the Greater Los Angeles office of the Council on American and Islamic Relations, a national non-profit. 

CIAPM is participating in the Capitol Collaborative on Race and Equity (CCORE), a 14-month racial equity capacity-building program for government employees. 

The CCORE cohort met in April to practice using a Racial Equity Tool (RET). The RET is designed to integrate explicit consideration of racial equity in decisions, including policies, practices, programs, and budgets. Participants analyzed existing and hypothetical strategies with the RET’s six-question process: 

The San Francisco Department of Public Health, City of Long Beach, and Seattle Public Schools are among the growing list of governmental and public agencies utilizing a RET. 

Join STAT’s Erin Brodwin and Casey Ross for a special virtual event about the findings of their recent special report, Promise and Peril: How artificial intelligence is transforming health care. 

This conference will provide a space for health funders to come together and share how they responded to the challenges presented in 2020, exchange lessons learned, and discuss how to partner with communities, individuals and families, and others to implement sustainable changes that lead to better health for all. 

The 2021 Summit will offer an opportunity to engage and deliver a range of cultural healing practices through innovative workshops and presentations to promote learning and to advance cultural humility, social justice, and equity throughout organizations and systems to effectively meet the diverse needs of consumers, individuals, families, and communities. 

Due to the lack of definitive diagnostics or efficacious and safe therapies, foundations and research centers have been raising funds for re-purposing existing therapeutics or developing new drugs (typically classified with an orphan drug status). As the development of biomarkers and genetic signatures continues to progress, techniques and technologies are anticipated to become more precise and comprehensive, thereby reducing the time to rare disease diagnoses. Recruitment for clinical trials is complicated by identifying and making those eligible aware of enrollment. Therefore, design and structure of orphan drug trials for small, dispersed populations for efficient trial recruitment and execution are areas of great interest. If you work in rare diseases or rare disorders, this conference is one you cannot miss.  

Gathering recognized leaders, top global researchers and medical professionals, plus innovators across healthcare and biotechnology sectors. They will discuss precision medicine in the era of pandemic recovery.

Advances in augmented and artificial intelligence and related areas continue to accelerate along the innovation trajectory. Precision medicine can benefit from AI design innovations by empowering healthcare professionals in the critical role of decision-making and conveying decisions to patients.