Dear Faisal,

The California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine (CIAPM) has been hard at work with some major program advances and announcements to roll out this Fall!

In this newsletter, we announce the grant awardees for our Depression Research program following the Request for Proposals released last year!

We also highlight an interview with a well-integrated community researcher, part of the CIAPM-funded UC San Diego research project, Cynthia Juarez Nunez, MA. Read on for recent updates of the Adverse Childhood Experiences research programs and news bites of our supported projects.

Further, we announce the date in December for the final meeting of the year for the CA Precision Medicine Advisory Council (CPMAC) and that we will be attending the 2025 Precision Medicine World Conference.

Thank you for your continued fidelity to our program as we navigate our transition to the California Health and Human Services Agency (CalHHS).

The CIAPM Team

Depression Research Program Awardees

Three Teams Receive $3 Million Each for

Precision Medicine Depression Research

Three state-funded grants totaling $9 million were chosen in the Summer to support collaborative community-driven research innovations in response to the latest request for research proposals, A Precision Medicine Approach to Improve the Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Depression. 

To inform the development of Request for Proposals, CIAPM conducted listening sessions across California, a Request for Information, and informational interviews with out-of-state subject matter experts. In total, CIAPM received 60 submissions, 53 of which were eligible, and 16 applicants moved on to the finalist stage and submitted Full Proposals. The selections process concluded with a final meeting of the Depression Expert Selection Committee in May. Following CIAPM’s transition period to CalHHS, the research grants were recently executed. Research teams are co-led by academic research institutions and one or more community-based organizations or clinics that support people with, or at risk for, depression and include a private sector collaborator that contributes in-kind, financial, or other resources. The teams will begin their three-year projects this Fall.

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

Congratulations to the three primary institutions and their network of collaborators:

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Research Program

CIAPM submitted a session proposal to the Pediatric Academic Societies 2025 meeting, featuring CIAPM-funded ACEs research and CIAPM’s funding model, which was recently accepted. Stay tuned for details in the coming months!

Representative Research Collaborative

CIAPM is currently developing activities for the Representative Research Collaborative. Please stay tuned for a major announcement and updates in the coming months.

Researcher Spotlight

Cynthia Juarez Nunez is the Wellness Coach and Community Health Worker (CHWs) Coordinator for the Healthy4You program at the Family Health Centers of San Diego. She holds a bachelor's degree in kinesiology from San Diego State University and a master’s degree in public health from CSU San Marcos. Additionally, she is a Certified Health Education Specialist and completed the Leadership and Management Certification program at UCSD Extension. 

Q: Why are community partnerships important for health research?

“Community partnerships are crucial for health research because they allow for the development of interventions that are culturally tailored and responsive to the specific needs of the community. Our ACEs project has integrated CHWs, who share similar life experiences, ethnicity, and language with our community. Our CHWs act as vital links between the community and the health care system, ensuring that health interventions are accessible and more likely to succeed. These partnerships also enhance the ability to address complex health issues, like the effects of ACEs, stress, and obesity, by grounding solutions in the combined lived experiences of our community members.”

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

October Advisory Council Meeting

Advisors of the CPMAC joined us for the first time, in-person since our transition to the California Health and Human Services Agency in Sacramento on October 30th. The meeting was productive and included many rich discussions. We look forward to having are Quarter 2 meeting in-person in the Spring. 

UCSF Lead Principal Investigator Dr. Neeta Thakur and team published an article entitled, “Associations Between Early-Life Adversity, Ambient Air Pollution, and Telomere Length in Children” in Psychosomatic Medicine.

UC Irvine Lead Investigator Dr. Pat Levitt co-published an article about the NIH HEALthy Brain and Child Cognitive Development Study entitled “Biospecimens in the HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study: Rationale and protocol” in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience.

UC Irvine Principal Investigator Dr. Laura Glynn published an article entitled, “Annual research review: the power of predictability - patterns of signals” in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

NIH - All of Us Engagement, Communications, and Enrollment Partner-ships: Research Opportunity Announcement

The All of Us Research Program, within the National Institutes of Health, has issued a research opportunity announcement to solicit white papers supporting the creation of a national resource to inform and raise awareness of their program.

Awards are geared toward community and health care provider organizations that will design and implement awareness of the program. White paper submission deadlines are August 30, 2024, February 28, 2025, and May 23, 2025. 

NCI - Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Advancing Diet and Physical Activity Biomarkers for Assessing Lifestyle Interventions in Cancer Prevention and Cancer Interception Research

The National Cancer Institute recently released a Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) is to support applications improving diet and/or physical activity assessment biomarker development for evaluating lifestyle-based cancer prevention and interception approaches across diverse settings. The expiration date for the NOSI is January 08, 2027.  

Elizabeth Munsterberg Koppitz Fellowship Program

The Elizabeth Munsterberg Koppitz Fellowship Program supports graduate research projects and scholarships in child psychology. The program aims to (1) nurture young scholars for careers in areas of psychology, such as child-clinical, pediatric, school, educational and developmental psychopathology and (2) support scholarly work contributing to the advancement of knowledge in these areas.

Of note, only one application accepted from any one institution in any given year. Submission deadline for support for the 2025-2026 academic year is November 27, 2024.

NIMH Information Session for Intramural Research Training Opportunities

December 3 | Virtual

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) will hold a virtual information session with the Office of Fellowship Training for guests to learn about a variety of research training programs. The sessions are appropriate for undergraduates, graduate students, medical students, and postdoctoral fellows.

Cell Bio 2024

December 14-18 | San Diego, CA

Cell Bio is a joint meeting with the American Society for Cell Biology and the European Molecular Biology Organization, which showcases on the latest technology and cell biology innovations as well as interdisciplinary efforts and discoveries in the fundamental biology of cells. 

Precision Medicine World Conference 2025

February 5-7, 2025 | Santa Clara, CA

The Precision Medicine World Conference (PMWC) is a gathering of renowned researchers, innovators, and health professionals showcasing the latest practical knowledge and collaborations accelerating the field of Precision Medicine.



CIAPM will be returning to PMWC in 2025, hosting a booth and networking both with our Precision Medicine-supported network and fostering new collaborations with partners in the field. We look forward to sharing more details in our subsequent newsletters.