Pilots Projects Awards

Clinical and Translational Research (up to $30,000)

Clinical Research is conducted with human subjects or on material collected from humans, in order to broaden knowledge about mechanisms of disease, therapeutic interventions, or clinical trials, or to develop new technology. Clinical research also includes epidemiological and observational studies, behavioral studies, community interventions, and research on outcomes and health services. Translational Research projects are focused on applying basic research discoveries to the understanding of human disease pathogenesis or development of novel diagnostics or treatment modalities, including cell-based and other pre-clinical models.

Applications

Application and Evaluation for Clinical and Translational Research Pilots

Applications are received in two stages. Stage 1 applications are open.  Apply Here

1. The first stage requires a 500-word abstract that will be scored.
2. The second stage is by invitation only based on review of the 500-word abstract. A five-page application is required, which will be scored according to modified NIH 9-point scoring guidelines that emphasize the future external funding potential of the investigator(s) and the project. Please submit your IRB application at the same time as submission of your second-stage application. We will require evidence that your application is slated for IRB review prior to ACTRI scientific review; if this is not available your application will be withdrawn for consideration during that cycle.

• Eligibility and Project Requirements

• Priority will be given to junior full-time faculty proposing collaborative projects.
• Postdoctoral Fellows and Project Scientists are not eligible.
• Principal Investigators for these pilot awards must be members of the ACTRI. Applicants may join the ACTRI shortly before submission and still be eligible.
• Principal Investigators must be full-time faculty members at UC San Diego or one of the UC San Diego partner institutions including Salk Institute, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology, Rady Children's Hospital, and Palomar Pomerado Health.
• Previous awardees are not eligible to reapply for one year.
• Only one pilot proposal may be submitted by a Principal Investigator per funding category.
• Full professors are NOT eligible to be Principal Investigators unless they are entering a new line of research. Proposals cannot overlap with or be a logical extension of ongoing research. In general, proposals from full professors who have greater than $350,000/year in current funding will receive lower priority.

All investigators selected for funding will be required to submit a six-month progress report (including an in-person presentation) and a one-year Final Progress Report at the end of the funded project. An additional report one year later will also be required. This report will consist of a detailed description of progress to date and a listing of all submitted publications and grant applications (pending or funded), meeting abstracts and seminars relating to the pilot project.

Evaluation Criteria

Applications should be well-written, precise, and succinct. Applications will be subject to both scientific and programmatic review. The following criteria will be used in evaluating these proposals:

1. Significance of the research and its translational relevance
2. Scientific quality
3. Feasibility to complete the project in one year
4. Probability that the work will yield important new information, technology, or service and/or yield new federal funding
5. Qualifications of the Principal Investigator and collaborators and inclusion of multidisciplinary team members

How To Apply

How to Apply for Stage 1

1. 500-word abstract
2. NIH biographical sketches, including other support with yearly direct costs, for the significant participants
3. The abstract page from all ongoing funded and pending research proposals

How to Apply for Stage 2

Stage 2 applications are by invitation only based on scores received for Stage 1 applications.

1. Five-page proposal description should follow NIH proposal criteria:
   1. Specific Aims
   2. Background and significance
   3. Preliminary studies (if applicable)
   4. Research design and methods
   5. Literature cited (not included in the five-page limit)
2. A detailed budget with budget justification. All guidelines pertaining to allowable expenses on federal grants will be applicable for these awards. In addition, no funding will be provided for travel, clerical help, office supplies, books and subscriptions, graduate student support and tuition remission, or publication expenses. If equipment is budgeted, it will need a thorough justification. As a reminder, these are pilot projects to obtain preliminary data.
3. IRB applications must be submitted at the same time as the Stage 2 submission, and should provide evidence of IRB (HRPP) pending review (e.g., HRPP # for the project).
4. Paragraph on community relevance (maximum 100 words) that includes the project title and is understandable at an eighth-grade reading level (non-scientist level reviewer). Paragraph should answer the following question, "How important is funding this research to improving human health, either in the near or distant future?" Do not include your name, as this paragraph will get a blinded review.

Applications should adhere to the following formatting specifications:

• 11‐point Arial font
• Single‐spaced
• 0.5 inch margins on all sides
• 8 ½" x 11" (i.e. standard size) paper
• Number all pages
• No appendices are allowed

How to Submit your Application:

The application is available online here

You must register as an applicant. Do this at least a week prior to the submission deadline. You will be sent an email notifying you of your username and password after you register.

UC San Diego Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute (ACTRI) announces the selection of 18 Pilot Project grant awardees for 2021. Pilot Project grants are one-year competitive cash awards for researchers to obtain preliminary data. Funding priority is given to junior faculty members. 

Funding Period is 2021 through 2022 [pending IRB approval]. “Subject to NIH/NCATS Approval”

Clinical and Translational

PI: Marianna Alperin, MD

UC San Diego Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences

Title: MOTHER: Maternal Outcomes Transformed by Harnessing Endogenous Regeneration

This project will be carried out in collaboration with Karen L. Christman, PhD – a biomaterials expert.

Motherhood is one of the riskiest ventures in women's lifetime. The U.S. has one of the highestmaternal mortality (MM) in the developed world and severe maternal morbidities (SMM) have increased 200% over the past 20 years. The leading causes of MM and SMM are 1) abnormal placentation, more commonly observed in African-American compared to Caucasian women, and 2) uterine rupture. These conditions are strongly associated with prior surgery which causes uterine scarring. Millions of primary cesarean sections (CS) are performed annually in the U.S, accounting for ~25% of all deliveries. Moreover, many women undergo multiple CSs, which dramatically increases the risk of abnormal placentation and uterine rupture. 

Currently, clinical and scientific efforts are limited to early detection of abnormal placentation or uterine rupture to enable timely deployment of significant resources to reduce MM and neonatal morbidity. We propose to prevent abnormal placentation and uterine rupture by harnessing the endogenous regenerative potential of the uterus through the delivery of biomaterials to the uterus at the time of a surgical insult. A minimally invasive therapy that promotes restoration of normal endometrial and myometrial architecture, leading to normal placentation and preservation of myometrial mechanical strength in subsequent pregnancies, is desperately needed and on the top of every obstetrician's wish list. There is a critical need for innovative strategies to prevent maladaptive uterine recovery following surgical insult. At the completion of these pilot work we will be well poised to pursue larger studies of our unprecedented approach to counteract the leading causes of MM and SMM through exploring the mechanisms underlying maladaptive uterine remodeling following Cesarean section and determining the role of a novel regenerative therapy as a preventative measure for abnormal placentation and uterine rupture. 

PI: Lawrence Ang, MD

UC San Diego Departments of Medicine and Cardiology

Title: Early Validation of a Novel Hemodynamic Analysis System

PI: Saima Aslam, MD, PhD 

UC San Diego Department of Medicine

Title: Prevention of Transmission of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) from HCV-Viremic Organ Donor to HCV-Negative Organ Transplant

Last year 18 people died daily while waiting for a life-saving organ transplant due to a national shortage in deceased donors. One way to reduce this shortage is to accept organs from donors with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. At our center we use such organs for transplant but treat the recipient with 12 weeks of HCV medication about a month or so following transplant. Sometimes, this can lead to adverse events and so such donors are not routinely used at all centers.
 
In this study, we plan to enroll 10 patients that receive a heart, lung, or kidney transplant from an HCV positive donor and start them on a short 1-week course of HCV medication immediately in the surgical period with the goal of preventing HCV transmission to the transplant recipient.
 
We hope that successful results from this small study will lead to larger studies and universal use of HCV-infected donors for life-saving transplant while preventing HCV transmission to the recipient and thus avoiding adverse events related to HCV infection.

PI: Xu Chen, PhD

UC San Diego Department of Neurosciences

Title: Exploring the Role of Testosterone in Regulation of Tau Pathogenesis

Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other tau-mediated neurodegenerative diseases such as frontotemporal dementia are characterized by aggregation and spread of pathological tau protein in the brain. Despite decades of research, effective interventions to these diseases are still lacking. It is well-evidenced that women typically show greater tau pathology than men on the AD trajectory; yet the reason for such sex differences is poorly understood. A better understanding of the mechanisms underlying the greater tau deposition in women can benefit all by informing causal pathways of disease and therapeutic targets and strategies that are optimal for each sex. Recent clinical evidence suggests that low testosterone levels correlate with poorer cognitive function and greater risk for AD. In particular, our recent work in the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) revealed that women with lower testosterone tend to have higher levels of phosphorylated tau (p-tau) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), particularly among female APOE4 carriers. This suggest that lower testosterone levels that typically characterize women may predispose them to pathological tau, and contribute to sex differences observed in AD. Here we propose to take these correlative findings to the necessary next step, to establish the causal relationship between testosterone and tau, and to explore the clinical applicability of testosterone therapy. Towards this goal, this pilot, translatable project aims to determine the direct impact of testosterone levels on tau pathogenicity in a sex-specific way. Given testosterone's anti-inflammatory actions and protective effect on AD-related outcomes, we hypothesize that pharmacological induction of high testosterone protects against tau spreading, diminishes neuroinflammation and ameliorates cognitive deficits associated with tau pathogenesis, particularly in females. In collaboration with Dr. Mellon, a renowned expert on sex hormones and reproductive biology, we will elucidate how manipulation of testosterone levels affects tau pathogenesis in females versus males, using different hormonal treatment paradigms in tau transgenic mouse models with and without APOE4 knock-in. This project aims to combine our expertise in tau biology, hormone and animal models, to close critical gaps in our understanding of mechanisms underlying sex differences in tau pathogenicity. Moreover, it will provide a proof-of-principle for hormone-based therapy, particularly in females. Results from the proposed pilot research will form the foundation of an R01 application, the goal of which will be to further elucidate the molecular mechanism(s) underlying the connection of sex hormones and tau, and to devise risk reduction strategies that influence these mechanisms. 

PI: Jacqueline Greene, MD

UC San Diego Department of Surgery

Title: Tracking Facial Nerve Regeneration through an Automated Remote Facial Analysis Mobile Device Platform

This project will be carried out in collaboration with residents Dr. Benjamin Ostrander and Dr. Kayva Crawford. 

Significance: The process of nerve regeneration across the site of injury to distal neuromuscular junctions and recovery of movement can be difficult to assess clinically and may take months to years to complete. For patients with facial nerve injuries causing facial paralysis, the wait for return of facial function and the resulting vision risk from poor eye closure, difficulty speaking and eating from flaccid oral sphincter muscles, as well as the psychological morbidity from the inability to smile or express emotions through facial movement can be devastating. Assessment of facial functional recovery is clinician-based and is limited by the logistics of coordinating clinic visits for standardized photo- and video documentation. Unfortunately, there is no laboratory test or current imaging method to definitively assess if neural regeneration and muscle reinnervation is occurring or if the nerve and muscle are simply undergoing atrophy; ultrasound assessments of muscle thickness have been reported but have limited value in predicting ultimate functional outcomes. Electrophysiologic testing such as needle electromyography is invasive and may be uncomfortable for patients for facial palsy and evidence of denervation changes are often captured at a timepoint late in the allowable timeframe for a salvage facial reanimation surgery such as a nerve transfer. A more precise evaluation of facial function across more timepoints than typical clinic visits allow would facilitate a better understanding of the sometimes subtle onset of facial nerve recovery and improve guidance for facial nerve surgeons. 

Innovation: Recent advances in machine learning techniques with the application Emotrics (Guarin et al, 2018) have made automatic localization of facial landmarks and rapid quantification of facial features feasible from facial photographs. Emotrics is an open-source platform developed at the Massachusetts Eye & Ear Institute (Harvard University) that can automatically quantify facial function and adjust for subtle head tilt, camera or patient movement, as well as facial palsy asymmetry. Emotrics has been used to correlate oral commissure excursion with perceived emotion following smile reanimation surgery(Dusseldorp et al, 2018) and to assess outcomes of eyelid weight placement for lagopthalmos(Greene et al, 2019). We propose developing a mobile device application to enable patients to take high-quality photography and ideography of their facial function and undergo automated facial analysis measurements would significantly advance current assessment of facial nerve recovery. 

Approach: We are in the early stages of developing a mobile application based platform for remote photography and ideography for facial analysis with Emotrics in collaboration with members of the UCSD Bioengineering department. Critical parameters for facial photography and ideography must be automated to facilitate data of sufficient quality (at least 1 megapixel with at least 1 iris visible) and lighting and will be tested against the Emotrics program. The ACTRI Pilot grant would greatly accelerate our developmental progress and bringing this concept to clinical application at the UCSD Facial Nerve Center and provide pilot data for external funding.

PI: Katia Harlé, PhD

UC San Diego Department of Psychiatry

Title: Computationally informed assessment of motivated inhibitory control to better understand psychopathology

Problems with impulsive behaviors are common to many mental health disorders. Impulsive behaviors often make mental health and alcohol/drug addiction symptoms worse. They can increase the chance of self-harm and suicide. It is important to understand how the brain manages the ability to stop impulsive behavior. It is also important to learn how this ability is influenced by feedback and emotions, so that we can train individuals to better control impulsive behavior.

Our study plans to address these questions. We will use a mathematical model to assess how individuals learn to stop impulsive behavior. Brain activity and attention will be measured to assess how the brain learns to control impulsive behavior. We will measure how positive and negative feedback changes impulsive behavior. We will also measure how positive and negative emotions alter this ability. Our study could identify new ways to help and protect individuals having problems with a wide range of mental health disorders.

PI: Jesse Jokerst, PhD

UC San Diego Department of NanoEngineering

Title: Improved Oral Health via Acoustic Imaging 

Dental health is critical to quality of life, but the tools that periodontists use to inspect the oral cavity have largely remained unchanged for the last 75 years resulting in over- and under-diagnosis of periodontal disease. This work will build an ultrasound-based imaging device to assess pocket depths and identify periodontal disease easily, earlier, and more accurately. The imaging approach will image the entire pocket and be less variable than existing methods—this will improve quality of life for dental patients. 

PI: Olivia Osborn, PhD

UC San Diego Department of Medicine

Title: The role of adipose tissue as a secretory organ in the development and treatment of Anorexia

AN in a complex disease with a high mortality rate, limited treatment options and exceptionally high relapse rate. Its primary features include abnormal feeding behavior and a low body weight and primarily affects females. No approved pharmacological treatments for AN exist, and cognitive treatments focus on changing patients' behavior to promote weight gain. Recent findings suggest that a substantial metabolic component underlies AN and may work against weight gain. Furthermore, we made the recent discovery that adipose tissue has a 'metabolic memory' and many of the signals that are perturbed by changes in body weight persist, even after weight loss. In preliminary work foundational to this proposal, we show that transplanting adipose tissue from obese mice into normal mice protects the recipient mice from developing the extreme weight loss induced by scheduled fasting compared to control mice transplanted with equivalent number of adipose derived cells from lean mice. Our central hypothesis is adipose tissue is a key driver of anorexia and harbors molecular signals that signal to the brain to modulate food intake behavior and energy metabolism. Guided by strong preliminary data, our central hypothesis will be tested by pursuing two specific aims: SA1a. Determine the molecular signature in adipose tissue that protects mice from anorexia. Our preliminary data established that adipose tissue harbors key signals that regulate energy metabolism and can protect from the development of anorexia-like symptoms. We hypothesize that adipose tissue transplant from high fat diet (HFD) fed mice will protect against scheduled fasting-induced weight loss by increasing caloric intake with no changes in energy expenditure. Approach: We will conduct in depth metabolic phenotype analysis to assess the impact of adipose tissue transplant from HFD-fed obese wild type (WT) mice compared with control adipose tissue from normal chow fed mice. We will conduct RNA-seq analysis of the transplanted adipose tissue to gain insights into the molecular signature driving changes in body weight. SA1b. Determine the metabolic memory of adipose tissue that encourages recidivism to an anorexic state. AN patients often relapse to a lower body weight, and it is speculated that high leptin levels represent a counter-regulation predisposing to renewed weight loss. For example, leptin levels are higher in AN patients at target weight than in healthy controls after adjustment for BMI and percent body fat. We hypothesize that adipose tissue harbors a metabolic memory that drives recidivism to AN. Approach. We will conduct RNA seq and ATAC seq analysis of the adipose tissue from mice exposed to scheduled fasting (AN-like mice), formerly AN-like mice, and control ad libitum fed mice to identify persistent AN-induced gene expression changes and open chromatin regions of adipose tissue that drive recidivism to the AN-like state. This collaborative proposal between Osborn and Dulawa labs will combine our complimentary expertise in metabolism and psychiatry to assess essential underlying pathways that contribute to AN disease pathogenesis with the strong potential to identify future treatment strategies. 

PI: Matthew Shtrahman, MD, PhD

UC San Diego Department of Neurosciences

Title: Investigating the Role of Adeno-Associated Virus (AAV) in the Pathogenesis of Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a rampant age-related dementia of unknown etiology characterized by neuronal loss, brain atrophy, and aggregation of beta amyloid (Aβ) and microtubule associated tau proteins in the brain.  While deposition of these proteins is thought to play an important role in the pathogenesis of AD, the presence of these aggregates is not sufficient to cause AD - both humans and experimental animal models can exhibit one or both of these neuropathological changes without cognitive impairment. In addition, multiple clinical trials investigating treatments that substantially reduce the accumulation of these proteins show no significant effect on the progression or symptoms of AD. Thus, there has been increasing effort to identify other risk factors, including infectious viral agents, that together with protein aggregation could fully explain the etiology of this multifactorial disease. 

We recently reported that recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV), which is used widely throughout experimental biology and human gene therapy, kills neural progenitor cells in the mouse hippocampus and ablates adult neurogenesis. This process is also markedly diminished in patients with AD. In addition, our preliminary studies indicate that rAAV infection in the mouse hippocampus results in AD-like pathology months after infection. Motivated by these findings, we will investigate rAAV as a model system to explore viral-induced neurodegenerative changes, deposition of Aβ and pathological tau, and deficits in learning and memory. 

PI: Gabriel Wardi, MD

UC San Diego Department of Emergency Medicine

Title: Development and Implementation of a Real Time Machine Learning Algorithm to Predict Tracheal Intubation in Patients with COVID19

Significance: The novel coronavirus 19 (COVID19) pandemic has strained global healthcare systems due to a surge of critically ill patients with acute respiratory failure. Published data have shown a large number of these patients require intensive care unit (ICU) transfer and mechanical ventilation at least a week into their hospital stay. We currently lack any meaningful method to determine which patients will deteriorate and require mechanical ventilation. The need for accurate prognostication of the need for mechanical ventilation is thus important for multiple reasons. First, early identification and increased situational awareness of such patients allows for safe tracheal intubation and initiation of mechanical ventilation. Second, accurate predictions of the need for mechanical ventilators allows appropriate allocation of staff and resources. 

Innovation: Our team recently developed VentNet, a machine learning (ML) algorithm that predicts the need for mechanical ventilation at least 24 hours ahead of time for ICU patients. VentNet was created using data from over 30,000 patients with acute respiratory failure at UC San Diego and Massachusetts General Hospital and then validated on over 300 COVID19 patients. VentNet had an outstanding AUC (>0.9) for predicting tracheal intubation in ICU patients and maintained excellent test characteristics in the patients with COVID19, outperforming current models. The innovation in this project is thus: 1) to provide improvements in the development of VentNet and validate it?s use across all levels of care in the hospital and 2) develop and effective approach for implementation. Prior ML algorithms have been hampered by poor implementation techniques limiting their effectiveness and generating frustration with the end-user. 

Approach: As we have already developed an ML algorithm from a large dataset to predict respiratory failure in ICU patients, we have 3 specific goals with the ultimate objective of using this approach to formulate a K grant: Specific Aim #1: Retrospective validation of VentNet for patients in the hospital wards. We have already shown that our algorithm performs very well in patients already admitted to the ICU but have not yet validated VentNet in the hospital wards. Specific Aim #2: Real-time implementation of VentNet and accompanying software packages in the emergency department, hospital wards and intensive care units across UC San Diego to predict need for mechanical ventilation at varying prediction windows. Specific Aim #3: Perform a 3-month pilot implementation study of VentNet in collaboration with the dissemination and implementation specialists at UC San Diego. 

Our overall hypothesis is that effective implementation of VentNet may improve provide decision making regarding the timing of tracheal intubation. 

Likelihood of the Pilot Project leading to future grants and external funding: Dr. Wardi is actively working to pursue a K grant and looking at implementation of real-time analytics for a variety of conditions. Background data and skills obtained from 

PI: Kiyomi Tsuyuki, PhD

UC San Diego Department of Medicine

Title: Discrimination, Trauma, and Violence in Mental Health among Black Women: Identifying the roles of stress, inflammation, social support and resilience in mental health disparities

Mental health disparities in the United States (US) are persistent among women, especially women of color. Black women disproportionately suffer from violence and its subsequent mental health outcomes. Despite growing attention to the role of discrimination and gender-based violence in poor mental health outcomes of Black women, a paucity of studies have examined this overlap, and even fewer studies consider how social support and resilience can mitigate the negative effects of discrimination and trauma. 
This pilot aims to examine the associations between trauma (discrimination, adverse childhood experiences [ACEs], gender-based violence) and mental health (e.g., depression, PTSD, suicidal ideation) among Black women, with particular attention to the mediating and moderating effects of stress, social support, and resilience. One mechanistic hypothesis posits that social adversity programs biological systems in a manner that persists across decades to accentuate vulnerability to disease across the life course, in a process called biological embedding. Trauma and violence may cause alterations in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the autonomic stress response, enhancing resistance to glucocorticoids and increasing production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. These HPA axis alterations (i.e., pituitary hyper-responsiveness to CRH, reduced glucocorticoid receptor sensitivity) are thought to contribute to an increased risk of mental health conditions among adults who experience trauma and abuse. However, studies of discrimination, stress and inflammation, social support and resilience, and mental health among women, in particular Black women, are very limited. 
This pilot proposes a secondary data analysis of the ESSENCE Project data (R01 HD077891; PI: Stockman), a retrospective cohort study among (n=315) Black women sampled from STD clinics in Baltimore, MD. ESSENCE is a collaboration between Johns Hopkins University and UCSD, with rich measures of measures of trauma (i.e., discrimination, ACEs, gender-based violence), mental health (i.e., depression, PTSD, suicidal ideation), and salivary biomarkers of stress and inflammation (i.e., cortisol awakening response [CAR] and C-reactive protein). In addition, we propose to assay archived saliva samples for IL-6 and TNF-α, additional markers of inflammation. We will estimate mediation and moderation models to test our hypotheses that: 1) Increasing exposure to trauma will confer greater risk for mental health conditions (e.g., depression, PTSD, suicidal ideation); 2) stress response (e.g., cortisol awakening response), inflammation (e.g., CAR, C-reactive protein, IL-6, TNF-α), social support, and resilience will mediate and moderate this association. The proposed significant and innovative research will provide novel information on the life course effects of trauma on mental health among Black women survivors of violence. This pilot will provide preliminary data for an NIH R01 to collect cohort data to understand the extent and magnitude of trauma and stress and coping on mental health among Black women across the life span. 

UC San Diego Department of Psychiatry; VA Mental Illness Research, Education & Clinical Center (MIRECC)

Title: Tailoring Collaborative Decision Skills Training for Underserved Minority Veterans with Serious Mental Illness

Importance to human health. Being able to talk to your doctor and meaningfully participate in treatment decisions about your health and mental health is a key part of improving health. People who are meaningfully involved in treatment decisions are more likely to participate in their treatment (for example, take a medication or go to therapy) and more likely to be happy with their treatment. This leads to improvements in their health and quality of life. But it’s not easy for some people to talk to their doctors. There are a lot of reasons for that, including: not knowing they are allowed to participate, not knowing what to say or how to say it, and not having the confidence to speak up. Those problems are more common for the folks in our study, partly because they have experience not being listened to or otherwise not being treated well in health care situations. We have a group, Collaborative Decision Skills Training (CDST), that is intended to help people with serious mental illness work more effectively with their doctors, but we don’t know how well it works for race/ethnic minority Veterans. We want to understand what race/ethnic minority Veterans’ experiences during treatment decision-making are, and what we could do to improve CDST so it works for their specific needs. We will use the improved version of CDST at the VA San Diego soon after completing the improvements. If CDST helps people, then we would also work on making CDST available across many VAs and outside of the VA. We would also consider how CDST might help people in other groups, like people with chronic pain or other chronic health conditions. So, it would have a big impact on health by helping people participate in treatment decisions and get the care that will work best for them. 

Impact of the research on the community. The biggest impact this research will have is to improve CDST so that it works well for Veterans with serious mental illness who are ethnic and/or racial minorities. It’s particularly important for these folks to be able to increase their participation in treatment decision-making because they are more likely to be left out of the decision-making process. After completing this study, we will be able to offer CDST at the San Diego VA and test whether it helps this group of people. If it does, the impact in the short-term and the long-term would be large since increasing participation in treatment decision-making leads to better treatment participation and satisfaction, reaching your treatment goals, and better quality of life. We also hope to have an immediate impact on the participants in the study, because the process of sharing opinions and having your voice heard about treatment can be empowering and uplifting. We have found this in past studies and will work in this study to make the research process a positive and empowering one for every participant. 

Community engagement and partnership. We are engaging with the community in three ways. First, we will hire two people who represent the group we are studying: Veterans with serious mental illness who are ethnic/racial minority group members. These two folks will be partners in the study and have important roles in each step of the study, including study design, recruitment, data collection, data analysis, and writing research papers. We also hope to continue our relationships with these two partners in future projects. Second, our research methods are intended to amplify the voices of the participants and get their direct opinions on CDST so that any changes we make are based on what the participants want and need. This helps ensure that we work we do will really benefit the community. Third, as a result of this study, community members in general will have access to the improved version of CDST at the San Diego VA and in other places. 

2020 Awardees

Award Date: April 1, 2020 through March 31, 2021

2019 Awardees

Award Date: April 1, 2019 through March 31, 2020

2018 Awardees

Award Date: April 1, 2018 through March 31, 2019

2017 Awardees

Award Date: April 1, 2017 through March 31, 2018

2016 Awardees

Award Date: April 1, 2016-March 31, 2017

2015 Awardees

Award Date: August 13, 2015-March 31, 2016

2014 Awardees

Award Date: April 2014-March 2015

2013 Awardees

Award Date: April 2013 - March 2014

2012 Awardees

Award Date: April 2012 - March 2013

2011 Awardees