Dear Colleague,

Across the nation, Black History Month inspires reflection on, recognition of, and action toward reducing the adversities that so many members of our communities have historically faced and continue to navigate today, especially during the pandemic. We are committed to bolstering our program’s toolkit with improved approaches to tackling health and social disparities and increasing awareness in our office and beyond through strategic investment, authentic community engagement, and participation in the Local and Regional Government Alliance on Race and Equity and Capitol Collaborative on Race and Equity. 
 
Additionally this month, Rare Disease Day is February 28, and we highlight a number of excellent events taking place virtually to propel scientific and health care innovations needed for the 30 million Americans that are estimated to live with one of the 7,000 rare diseases so far identified. This month is also host to the ambitious launch of two, multi-year Advisory Council working groups, targeting challenges in Data Integration and Equitable Consent and chaired by Dr. Hakan Sakul and Dr. Kenneth Kim, respectively. It continues to be an honor to bring together leaders from across our amazing state and work together toward crafting an equitable future for all.

In solidarity, 
The CIAPM Team 
Precision Medicine Advisory Council
The Council meets for its winter meeting on February 25 at 11:00 am. Members of the public are encouraged to attend and provide feedback. Register for the meeting.
Data Integration Working Group
The first meeting of the Data Integration working group took place on February 8. The group discussed several existing efforts to standardize social determinants of health for electronic health records, and possible partnerships and synergies between public, private, and nonprofit organizations. The Data Integration group is chaired by Hakan Sakul, PhD, who is a Vice President and Head of Diagnostics at Pfizer.
“A traditional medical record doesn’t give a health care practitioner a complete picture of the many factors that contribute to a patient’s health and wellness. Risk factors such as food or housing insecurity have an enormous impact on a person’s health, but at present there is no consensus about the best way for health professionals to capture, assess, store, or access data about social drivers of health so that the information can be used in clinical decision making. We’re looking forward to connecting with partners across the state and country to break down data integration barriers for the benefit of Californians.”

Hakan Sakul, PhD
Chair, Data Integration Working Group
Equitable Consent Working Group
The first meeting of the Equitable Consent working group took place on February 19. The members contributed ideas on the development of an equitable framework for the informed consent process that takes place in the course of research on human subjects, and strategized how to maximize the impact of the project. The group is chaired by Kenneth Kim, MD, a physician who is the founder and Chief Medical Officer for Ark Clinical Research.
"Part of the reason health disparities persist is that the communities experiencing disparities have historically been preyed upon by medical researchers, so they are understandably reticent to participate in research that may benefit them. It’s the responsibility of the researchers to reach out to minority groups that are currently underrepresented in medical research, learn from them their reasons why they may hesitate to participate, and work with those communities on strategies to build trust between researchers and potential research subjects. A step in that direction is to design an equitable framework for the informed consent process so that it is accessible to a wider array of potential participants.”

Kenneth Kim, MD
Chair, Equitable Consent Working Group
Programmatic Updates
Clockwise from top left: Dr. Amber Mace (CCST); Dr. Julianne McCall (CIAPM); Assemblymember Dr. Bill Quirk; Marko Mijic (CHHS).
Race and Equity
The Local and Regional Government Alliance on Race and Equity hosted a public health working group meeting that focused on “visioning” for racial equity. The session facilitated several exercises to help frame and reframe participants' work in relation to racial equity goals. The first prompt was a personal reflection exercise that asked participants to think 20 years into the future: If everyone in their jurisdiction focused on racial equity in their work, what would such a government look like? What attributes, qualities, and conditions would exist? What would change? Following group discussion and collective visioning, session facilitators challenged participants to begin transforming aspirations into actions, categorizing actions based on spheres of influence and long-, medium-, and short-term goals.

ACEs Research Selections Process 
Next month, the out-of-state expert Selection Committee will determine awardees of $9 million in state funds for collaborative research into Adverse Childhood Experiences using a Precision Medicine approach. More information about the final meeting in late March will be announced on the CIAPM website.

Upcoming Educational Resources Collection 
We have been working diligently to gather and curate some of the web’s best educational resources about precision medicine for a dedicated page on a brand new CIAPM website, targeting public and professional audiences alike. Content recommendations are welcome as we build toward a spring launch. For a field as quickly emerging as precision medicine, we are delighted to serve as a trusted public source of information.
Upcoming Events
February 26
Learn about the critical role data and information will play in supporting California Medicaid's new Enhanced Care Management benefit and In Lieu Of Service model, and how stakeholders can exchange and use vital information.

March 1
This year’s virtual event will feature interactive panel discussions, rare stories through TED-style talks and more. The event is free and open to the public, including patients, patient advocates, health care providers, researchers, trainees, students, industry representatives and government employees.

March 3
Each year to commemorate Rare Disease Day, the Broad Institute organizes a Focus on Rare Disease event showcasing rare disease research.

March 5
The purpose of this meeting is to highlight strategies to support rare disease product development. Patients, patient advocates, researchers, and medical product developers may benefit from attending this public meeting.

March 12
Join the discussion about assessing the quality, usability, and use cases of socio-behavioral determinants of health data.

March 16
This event is part of the Precision Medicine Leaders Summit Virtual Series 2021. The yearlong series will include events about telehealth, rare diseases, oncology, pathology, AI, and community health.

March 16-18
The American Hospital Association Community Health Improvement and the Institute for Diversity and Health Equity will host a 3-day virtual meeting to advance their shared work: closing health equity gaps, building strategic hospital-community partnerships, and developing and sustaining diversity and inclusion efforts in hospitals and health systems.
External Opportunities
ciapm
California Institute for Behavioral Health Solutions Health Summit Request for Presentations
The 2021 California Health Equity Summit (June 10-11) is accepting submissions for presentations and/or workshops that highlight projects, programs, methods, activities, and/or interventions that use various healing, wellness and recovery practices, and with a continued focus on behavioral health.
Submit by February 26, 2021
ciapm
National Academy of Medicine Catalyst Award Competition
Catalyst Awards reward bold, new, potentially transformative ideas to improve the physical, mental, or social well-being and health of people as they age, in a measurable and equitable way.
Applications due March 8, 2021
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All In Affinity Group Program
All In: Data for Community Health will launch Affinity Groups this spring to facilitate learning about data-sharing for multi-sector collaborations.
Sign up by March 12, 2021
ciapm
Ask Anything, Change Everything Campaign
The Ask Anything, Change Everything campaign wants to know: what should scientists be measuring, if only there was a way to? Submit an idea or unanswered question that could revolutionize bioscience. The Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group will fund up to 10 projects, with a maximum combined total of $10 million.
Submit by March 16, 2021
NIH High-Risk, High-Reward Program
The High-Risk, High-Reward Research (HRHR) program supports exceptionally creative scientists pursuing highly innovative research with the potential for broad impact in biomedical, behavioral, or social sciences within the NIH mission. Interested researchers should save the date for the HRHR symposium on June 9-11.