Dissemination and implementation research intends to bridge the gap between research, practice, and policy by building a knowledge base about how health information, effective interventions, and new clinical practices, guidelines and policies are communicated and integrated for public health and health care service use in specific settings. (NIH PAR-19-274). Recognizing the need for increased capacity in D&I research, training and leadership, we established the UC San Diego DISC in 2020 as a center focusing on dissemination and implementation science across UC San Diego Health Sciences. Key activities provided by the UC San Diego ACTRI DISC include training, consultation, technical assistance, and mentoring to advance D&I science with a local, national, and global impact.
Establish UC San Diego as a nationally and internationally recognized flagship for dissemination and implementation (D&I) science through training, technical assistance, community engagement, and research advancement.
Advance UC San Diego's public health impact locally and globally through D&I science.
Access UCSD ACTRI DISC's publications here.
The UCSD ACTRI DISC offers personalized consultations to help you navigate D&I models, measures, and study designs. Whether you're new to D&I or refining an existing project, we provide tailored resources, expert recommendations, and connections to content-specific specialists. Our services are open to everyone, regardless of field or experience level. Learn more about our consultation services and team by clicking the "DISC Consultation & Consultation Team" section below!
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Gregory Aarons
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Borsika Rabin |
Lauren Brookman-Frazee |
Nicole Stadnick |
Register for EPIS Office Hours
UC San Diego Implementation Science Seminar Series (3rd Thursday of the month from 2:00 to 3:00 pm PT)
Register for UC San Diego Implementation Science Seminar Series
Adaptation, Fidelity & Tailoring Workgroup (2nd Monday of the month from 9:00 to 10:00 am PT)
September AFT Meeting
Register for Adaptation, Fidelity, and Tailoring Workgroup Meetings
San Diego Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Other Related Disabilities (San Diego LEND)
The San Diego Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Other Related Disabilities program (San Diego LEND) is a unique, interdisciplinary leadership training program funded by a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The San Diego LEND is administered through the UC San Diego Altman Clinical Translational Research Institute Dissemination and Implementation Science Center in collaboration with San Diego State University and Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego, and government and community agencies within San Diego and Imperial Counties. San Diego LEND is part of a national network of 60 LEND training programs.
The San Diego LEND program provides interdisciplinary and leadership training to graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, medical residents and fellows, practicing professionals, family members, and self-advocates focused on applying implementation science to promote access to evidence-based services for individuals with autism and other developmental disorders (Autism/DD). Training activities are scheduled from August through May and there are multiple training intensity options ranging from 40 to 300 hours over the training period.
What makes San Diego LEND unique?
San Diego LEND faculty have expertise applying implementation science, the scientific study of methods and strategies to promote the use of evidence-based practice and research by practitioners and policymakers, across community service systems caring for individuals with Autism/DD.
We offer specialized training in implementation leadership, which is strategic leadership focused on supporting the use and sustainment of evidence-based practices.
We leverage strong community partnerships and multi-institutional collaboration offering opportunities to use the strengths and expertise of both academic institutions and community partners to target service disparities and promote equity in access to evidence-based Autism/DD services.
We strive to provide interdisciplinary training that is responsive to the unique characteristics of our border community of San Diego and Imperial Counties with the goal of improving service and clinical outcomes for our residents.
Why become a LEND trainee?
Benefits to being a San Diego LEND trainee include:
Building expertise in autism, developmental disabilities, and other neurodiverse populations
Developing advocacy and leadership skills
Co-learning with trainees and faculty from multiple disciplines and perspectives
Collaborating with experts in developmental disabilities, implementation science, and community partnerships across service systems.
Promoting culturally responsive care and equitable service access
Receiving stipend payment (for some trainees)
Learn more about San Diego LEND
The UC San Diego ACTRI DISC offers two membership categories: DISC General Member and DISC Investigator.
Complete this 5-minute questionnaire and join DISC today!
UC San Diego Implementation Science Seminar (ISS)
Co-hosted by the UC San Diego DISC, IN STEP Center, and San Diego HIV Implementaiton Science Hub, this onthly learning community comes together to discuss the latest in D&I literature, workshop new proposals and learn from D&I experts.
The ISS Seminar is held monthly on the 3rd Thursday of the month from 2-3:00pm Pacific Time. Topic and location information sent in monthly emails. Select recordings are available on the DISC Youtube channel.
UC San Diego Implementation Science Seminar (ISS) Past Presentations
To request DISC Consultations, please complete the Consultation Request Form. The form will ask questions about you and your D&I project. It will take approximately 5 minutes to complete. The information that you share will be reviewed by the DISC Consultation team on a rolling basis. Please note that the DISC Consultation Team requires 7-10 business days to review and respond to consultation requests. Please review the Triage for Grant-related and Manuscript requests below for more detailed information about timeline and allowable requests. Consultations are not a guarantee for the consultant being able to serve as a Co-Investigator on the grant proposal. As part of our consultation services we provide resources, initial guidance for models, measures, and designs and we can make recommendations to connect you with others who could serve as Co-Investigators on your proposal, if needed.
You must also be a current DISC Member to request DISC Consultation. To become a member, please click here.
Prepare for your DISC Consultation: Recommendations to maximize your consultation time
The DISC Consultation Team will triage requests and tailor services depending on lead-in time and the nature of the requests.
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| Process Steps | Timeline | Example |
| DISC Member/Investigator submits Consultation Request | 10-15 minutes to complete |
Examples of Appropriate Consultation Requests:
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| Initial Consultation Meeting | Scheduled 2-4 weeks from initial request |
Potential outcomes from initial consultation:
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| Complete DISC Consultation Impact and Outcomes Survey | 6 months from initial consultation meeting |
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DISC offers a graduate course annually in the Fall on D&I science co-taught by three members of the Executive Leadership Team, Dissemination and Implementation Science in Health: An Introduction (PH 289R). This course focuses on disseminating and scaling up health interventions in real-world settings. Interactive didactic sessions and guest lectures on implementation of research principles, approaches and methods. Will design a proposal to implement or scale-up a clinical or public health intervention.
Dr. Borsika Rabin and Dr. Lauren Brookman-Frazee are currently teaching undergraduate Dissemination and Implementation, Policy and Health Services in Mental Health (FMPH 428). This course will use Dissemination and Implementation Science to address the gap between promising research results for mental health and their successful translation into improved individual, community and population health.
DISC currently offers undergraduate & graduate internships for course credit through the UC San Diego Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science Department (Course Number: FMPH199 and FMPH 198). Email DISC for application instructions.
Read the full internship description.
Catherine Dinh is a Public Health undergraduate with a minor in Biology, interested in healthcare utilization. She focuses on capacity building and aims to apply D&I strategies within projects during her graduate studies and beyond.
Keisla Ancheta, BS is an incoming MPH student concentrating in Health Behavior. She is an alumni of UCSD where she majored in Global Health and minored in Ethnic Studies. She is interested in learning more about how implementation science is used to improve health behavior interventions for chronic disease prevention and management.
Marcella Chan is currently finishing up her undergrad at UCSD and will be graduating with a BS in Public Health (Epidemiology) and a Minor in Bioethics. She will continue her academics at UCSD in the MPH (Technology & Precision Health) program starting in Fall 2026. She is interested in learning more about how dissemination and implementation science intersects with developing technologies. Specifically, guiding improvement toward patient adherence and engagement. She hopes to bring her experience and knowledge to the biotech industry.
Olivia Ghilardi, is a dedicated student worker at the Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute! Olivia is making significant contributions as a research intern at the Dissemination and Implementation Science Center (DISC) at UCSD.
Her work focuses on implementation frameworks in public health and data analysis, bridging the gap between scientific literature and real-world application. With a passion for creating equitable, modern, and realistic health systems, Olivia is a valuable asset to our team. We are thrilled to support Olivia’s journey as she shapes the future of implementation science!
Kelli Sugai, BA is currently finishing her Master’s in Biostatistics at UC San Diego. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). After graduating, Kelli discovered her passion for research while working at the VA Loma Linda Auditory Research Laboratory, an experimental psychophysics lab that seeks to understand the link between traumatic brain injury, noise exposure, and hearing function. She is interested in applying her quantitative skills and research experience to dissemination and implementation science, with a focus on community-based participatory research. In her spare time Kelli loves to cook, read novels, and watch TV with her cats.
Olivia Fang
Olivia Fang is currently a part of UCSD Extension's Post Baccalaureate Pre-Health Program. She is an alumni of UC Berkeley where she majored in Psychology and minored in Creative Writing. She is interested in psychiatry and wants to learn about the interdisciplinary nature of D&I research and how such research can guide and improve the implementation of interventions in healthcare.
Laura Sheckter
Laura Sheckter is a first-year MPH student concentrating in Health Behavior and Health Policy. She hopes to learn how to help populations improve their overall well-being during her time at UCSD. More specifically, Laura is interested in learning about the process of writing D&I research and gaining the tools to apply that research through experiential learning.
The Translational Science Benefits Model is used as the framework to guide work done at ACTRI and to assist our researchers in indentifying potential and demonstrated benefits from their work that have a real-world impact.
The Translational Science Benefits Model is intended to provide benchmarks to assess the impact of research that applies scientific findings to enhance public health and well-being.
The model identifies benefits of clinical and translational research in four areas:
Clinical and Medical Benefits (Procedures & guidelines, Tools & products)
Community and Public Health Benefits (Health activities & products, Health care characteristics, Health promotion)
Economic Benefits (Commercial products, Financial savings & benefits)
Policy and Legislative Benefits (Advisory activities, Policies & legislation)
One of the ways ACTRI disseminates key information from their research projects is through the ACTRI TSBM profiles. These profiles act as a snapshot to easily share relevant findings and resources in an easy to digest format.
Check out the ACTRI TSBM Profiles here
If you are interested in creating your own TSBM profile, submit a DISC consultation request to learn more!
Submit DISC Consultation Request
The CTSA Compendium of D&I Catalogs provides a curated list of resource catalogs
relevant to the conduct of Dissemination & Implementation (D&I) science. The resource
catalogs gathered here include frameworks/theories/models, methods/measures, funding resources, practice resources, training, and health equity resources. Included resource catalogs are curated/sponsored by academic and non-profit organizations with expertise in D&I; contain multiple resources that are systematically organized; and are (in almost all cases) both open-access and actively maintained/updated.
How to use the D&I Catalogs tool: Use the Sort and Filter functions below to view resources in categories of interest, or to view “featured resources.” Use this D&I Resource Suggestion Form to suggest a new catalog for inclusion.
This resource was developed by the Clinical & Translational Science Awards (CTSA)
Program’s “Advancing Dissemination and Implementation Sciences in CTSAs” working
group. This group focuses on meeting both the conceptual as well as practical challenges to advancing the utilization of D&I across the translational science spectrum. In particular, this group focuses on the “how” of D&I integration within CTSA hubs nationally, and on creating and disseminating practical tools, resources, and insights that CTSAs can use to fully realize the potential of D&I to enhance CTSAs’ mission.
Existing grant review criteria do not consider unique methods and priorities of Dissemination and Implementation Science (DIS). The ImplemeNtation and Improvement Science Proposals Evaluation CriTeria (INSPECT) scoring system includes 10 criteria based on Proctor et al.'s "ten key ingredients" and was developed to support the assessment of DIS research proposals. The DISC uses the INSPECT criteria in combinaiton with the NIH scoring system to evaluate pilot DIS study proposals through the DISC.
Learn more about the INSPECT scoring system here!
Stadnick, N.A., Viglione, C., Crable, E.L. et al. Enhancing review criteria for dissemination and implementation science grants. Implement Sci Commun 4, 17 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s43058-023-00399-2
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