Dear Colleagues,

The research newsletter is back after a brief summer pause. We hope that the fall quarter is off to a great start for your research programs. This month you'll find a listing of the career development awards that have been awarded since the summer and a great collection of funding opportunities. Congratulations to all the awardees!



Wishing you a successful and fulfilling start to the academic year.



All the best, 

Diane Havlir, MD, Associate Chair for Clinical Research

David Erle, MD, Associate Chair for Biomedical Research

National Research Administrator Day is observed annually on September 25. If you haven't already done so, please take a moment to join us in thanking our research administrators. We value every member of the research administration teams and would like to recognize the contributions to the department’s research enterprise made by administrators every day. We thank them for their invaluable work and their crucial role in supporting research.

Nabora Reyes De Barboza, PhD, associate professor in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy and Sleep Medicine at UCSF Health, received a K99 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for a project entitled, "p16INK4a+ fibroblasts regulate epithelial regeneration after injury in lung alveoli through the SASP."

Gabriel Chamie, MD, associate professor in the Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases and Global Medicine at ZSFG, received a K24 from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism for a project entitled, "Mentorship in patient-oriented research to optimize community-based HIV prevention for adults at high-risk of HIV at alcohol drinking venues in East Africa."

Timothy Henrich, MD, associate professor in the Division of Experimental Medicine at ZSFG, received a K24 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for a project entitled, "Mentoring scientists for careers in HIV translational clinical research."

Christina Homer, MD, PhD, clinical fellow in the Division of Infectious Diseases at UCSF Health, one of twenty-five recipients of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Hanna H. Gray fellows program. Christina discovered that a family of Coccidioides protease enzymes is required to make spherules. She aims to unlock the role of these proteases in spherule formation and infection, and ultimately develop a protease inhibitor to treat Valley fever.

Aartik Sarma, MD, assistant professor in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy and Sleep Medicine at UCSF Health, received a K23 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for a project entitled, "Evolution and resolution of ARDS molecular phenotypes."

Tatsuya Tsukui, PhD, assistant professor in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy and Sleep Medicine at UCSF Health, received an R00 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for a project entitled, "Cellular and molecular delineation of pathologic fibroblasts in pulmonary fibrosis."

Jennifer Chen, MD, associate professor in the Division of Gastroenterology at ZSFG, received an R01 from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases for a project entitled, "Dissecting the acid ceramidase pathway in hepatic fibrogenesis."

Gideon St. Helen, PhD, associate professor in the Division of Cardiology at ZSFG, received an R01 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse for a project entitled, "Understanding the clinical pharmacology of marijuana-tobacco co-administration."

Please let Ilona Paredes know if we inadvertently missed your K award, first R01 or equivalent award in this issue of the newsletter. We will make sure to feature your award in our next issue.

Congratulations to Karly Murphy, MD, MHS, assistant professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine at UCSF Health, recipient of the UCSF School of Medicine Irene Perstein Award. As a general internist and health equity researcher, Karly aims to reduce the premature mortality of people living with serious mental illness through the delivery of equitable and evidence-based care. Her research program focuses on improving physical healthcare quality for people with serious mental illness (SMI) in both preventive and chronic disease care. Karly's long-term goal is to become an independent investigator, developing and testing pragmatic interventions to improve care delivery and reduce premature mortality among people with SMI. Dr. Murphy's award is supported by the Mount Zion Health Fund.

This year marked the second cohort of the PIVOT program (Principal InVestigator Organizational management Training for Early Stage Investigators [ESI]), which is an interactive course including a combination of didactics and case studies on the following four topics:

• Research Ecosystem (interacting with UCSF Research Services and NIH partners)
• Organizational Management (leading and managing a team as PI)
• Human Resources (hiring staff and collaborating with HR)
• Finance (budget projecting, saving, and spending)

Congratulations to the following cohort members who successfully completed the course! We look forward to hearing about your experiences running your research groups. We will take applications for the next year's cohort late winter.

2022 PIVOT Cohort (pictured left to right, top to bottom):

Judith Ashouri Sinha, MD, assistant professor, Rheumatology, UCSF Health, John Chorba, MD, assistant professor, Cardiology, ZSFG, Amy Conroy, PhD, associate professor, Prevention Science, UCSF Health, Meghana Gadgil, MD, associate professor, General Internal Medicine, UCSF Health, Carolyn Hendrickson, MD, MPH, associate professor, Pulmonary and Critical Care, ZSFG, Catherine Koss, MD, assistant professor, HIV, Infectious Diseases and Global Medicine, ZSFG, Paul Krezanoski, MD, associate professor, Hospital Medicine, ZSFG, Renuka Nayak, MD, PhD, assistant professor, Rheumatology, SFVAMC, Oanh Nguyen, MD, MAS, assistant professor, Hospital Medicine, ZSFG, David Oh, MD, PhD, assistant professor, Hematology and Oncology, UCSF Health, Rachel Rutishauser, MD, PhD, associate professor, Experimental Medicine, ZSFG, Melisa Wong, MD, MAS, associate professor, Geriatrics, UCSF Health

2023 PIVOT Cohort (pictured left to right, top to bottom):

Anushree Agarwal, MD, MBBS, associate professor, Cardiology, UCSF Health, Diana Alba, MD, assistant professor, Endocrinology, ZSFG, Vincent Auyeung, MD, PhD, assistant professor, Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy and Sleep Medicine, UCSF Health, Jessica Briggs, MD, assistant professor, HIV, Infectious Diseases and Global Medicine, ZSFG, Jon Budzik, MD, PhD, assistant professor, Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy and Sleep Medicine, UCSF Health, Teresa Chen, MD, MHS, assistant professor, Nephrology, SFVAMC, Erica Farrand, MD, assistant professor, Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy and Sleep Medicine, UCSF Health, Matt Hickey, MD, assistant professor, HIV, Infectious Diseases and Global Medicine, ZSFG, Elaine Khoong, MD, MS, assistant professor, General Internal Medicine, ZSFG, Maya Kotas, MD, PhD, assistant professor, Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy and Sleep Medicine, UCSF Health, Sarah Nouri, MD, MPH, assistant professor, Palliative Medicine, UCSF Health, Arun Padmanabhan, MD, PhD, assistant professor, Cardiology, UCSF Health, Leslie Suen, MD, assistant professor, General Internal Medicine, ZSFG, Richard Wang, MD, assistant professor, Pulmonary and Critical Care, ZSFG, Himali Weerahandi, MD, MPH, assistant professor, Hospital Medicine, UCSF Health, Kelly Wentworth, MD, assistant professor, Endocrinology, ZSFG

Do you have ideas for using AI (e.g., OpenAI, other large language models) in research? Are you planning a grant submission involving the use of AI?

The Office of Research and the research AI task force will help you understand capabilities, costs, and compliance considerations, and assist you with preparation of grant budgets and letters of support. Schedule a free consultation here. Artificial intelligence (AI) represents a transformative tool for UCSF’s researchers and research community. UCSF is developing governance principles and guidelines, investing in compute infrastructure and resources, and conducting a “Research AI” pilot to road-test an enterprise-wide platform and compute environment.

Details about a series of lunchtime discussions on using AI for research will be forthcoming in ReSearch ReSources and other communications. Topics will range from example projects, uses of UCSF’s data, ethical and regulatory considerations, study design and more. For questions, please email research@ucsf.edu. 

UCSF Resource Allocation Program (RAP) 

Applications are due by October 2

The Resource Allocation Program (RAP) is a campus-wide program that coordinates intramural research funding opportunities at UCSF. UCSF faculty in any series (ladder rank, in residence, clinical X, health science clinical, adjunct) are eligible. View the grant offerings for consideration and comparison.

RAP process:

• Applicants choose the most appropriate grant mechanism, not the agency 
• Simultaneous consideration of each application by multiple funding agencies enhances funding likelihood 
• Funding agencies choose the best proposals that fulfill their programmatic goals 
• The funding results will be available before the end of December 2023
• All applicants will receive written critiques and final scores

Please note, the grant RFA of the Pilot Award In Precision Imaging of Cancer and Therapy has been amended after its launch. Be sure to review the RFA one more time before submitting. Remember to verify your eligibility and follow the submission rules. 

For questions, please email rap@ucsf.edu. 

UCSF Nina Ireland Program for Lung Health: Call for Innovative Grant Applications 

Applications are due by October 13

The mission of the Nina Ireland Program for Lung Health (NIPLH) is to build and sustain the world’s leading program for pulmonary clinical care, training, and research emphasizing innovation and collaborative approaches. The NIPLH is seeking proposals for innovative research, clinical program development, medical education, and quality improvement/patient safety in pulmonary medicine. Proposals likely to have the most impact will be funded for one to two years. In addition to high quality of science and innovative approaches, other key components of impact include projects likely to lead to extramural funding for which there is no alternative source of seed funding available. The 2024 Request for Application (RFA) will consider any topic in pulmonary medicine, however projects related to the underserved and health disparities, locally and globally, will merit special consideration.

For applicant requirements and instructions, click here. For questions, please email Matthew Lau.

EXTRAMURAL Build UP Trust Challenge!

Registration is due by November 14

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) launched the Build UP Trust Challenge to identify new and promising scalable strategies that increase research participation and the adoption of existing and new tools and approaches to detect, treat, and monitor diseases, conditions, and disorders by improving engagement with minority health populations and populations with health disparities.

The NIH Build UP Trust Challenge will award a total of up to $1.25 million. Eligible individuals, teams, and organizations must register by 2 PM Pacific time on Tuesday, November 14, 2023, in order to participate. Complete the readiness tool to help determine your eligibility and fit for the Build UP Trust Challenge.

EXTRAMURAL Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Gilliam Fellows Program

Applications are due by December 7

The Gilliam Fellows Program is an initiative of the HHMI Center for the Advancement of Science Leadership and Culture. The Gilliam Fellows Program is open to eligible pairs of graduate students and their faculty advisers who, together, embody scientific leadership, an important component of which is a commitment to building an equitable and inclusive science culture.

Students must be currently enrolled and in good academic standing in a biomedical or life sciences PhD program at an accredited institution of higher education in the United States or U.S. territory. The adviser-student pair must be studying scientific problems in biomedical sciences, life sciences, or biological questions in related disciplines.

The total amount awarded for the 2024 cohort will be $53,000 per year for up to three years. The grant will be paid to the institution, which in turn, will disburse funds to the adviser and fellow.

Please note important changes made to the HHMI Gilliam Fellowship:

• Student-faculty pairs no longer have to be nominated by D’Anne, as the institutional representative
• Applications no longer require institutional letters and data
• Internal nominations are no longer based on NIGMS-T32 status
• There is no longer an institutional cap on the number of eligible applications that can be submitted

For questions, please contact Gilliam@hhmi.org.

Reminder EXTRAMURAL The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H)

Applications are due by March 14

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) is a new federal agency that supports team approaches for solving major health challenges. Rather than supporting research on specific diseases, ARPA-H will support high-risk, high-consequence programs designed to improve health for everyone.

Examples provided by the agency:

Imagine if…

• Cell therapies could be built and assembled on demand, readily reprogrammed for each new disease target
• MRIs could be delivered in the comfort of your home
• A personalized cancer vaccine cost the same as a cup of coffee

There are various ways to become involved in ARPA-H research:

• Become an ARPA-H program manager. Those selected as program managers take leave from UCSF for three to six years to become full-time ARPA-H employees and run large (typically ~$50-150M) efforts with business and technical support and the authority to assemble and fund multidisciplinary teams from industry, academics, and government.
• Once programs are launched, respond to a program manager’s call for proposals. Program managers will issue Broad Agency Announcements (BAAs) requesting proposals for work related to that program.
• Become involved in development, scaling up, or production as projects progress.
• Lead an “Open BAA” proposal. In advance of the launch of ARPA-H Projects, specific proposals with a narrower scope that address the goals of ARPA-H can be submitted from now until March 14, 2024. These may eventually be incorporated into ARPA-H programs.

To learn more about ARPA-H and how to apply to become a program manager or respond to a BAA, visit the UCSF Research Development Office ARPA-H website, which includes links to videos and slide decks with more information.

NIH Loan Repayment Programs (LRPs)

Applications are due by November 16

The NIH Loan Repayment Programs (LRPs) are a set of programs established by Congress and designed to recruit and retain highly qualified health professionals into biomedical or biobehavioral research careers. There are two LRPs, one for researchers not employed by NIH (extramural) and another for researchers employed by NIH (intramural). Research funding from NIH is not required to participate in the extramural LRP, and extramural and intramural LRP awardees may apply for subsequent, competitive renewal awards as long as they meet program eligibility. Although organized around broad research areas, the LRPs were never intended to fund research projects. Rather, LRP awards are based on an applicant's potential to build and sustain a research career.

LRP awardees can receive up to $100,000 of qualified educational debt repayment with a two-year LRP award. To learn more about eligibility requirements, application dates, and benefits of receiving an LRP award, please visit the LRP website, and check out the overview video.

Copyright © 2023, University of California, San Francisco, All rights reserved.

Please send comments, suggestions and questions to:

Diane Havlir, MD, Associate Chair for Clinical Research (diane.havlir@ucsf.edu)

David Erle, MD, Associate Chair for Biomedical Research (david.erle@ucsf.edu)