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Dear Jason,


Welcome to our refreshed, bi-monthly newsletter with redesigned and reprioritized content. Thank you to everyone who shared their comments and suggestions in response to our summer survey.


We are excited to announce the launch of our revamped California Precision Medicine Asset Inventory, an interactive database of organizations, companies, research centers, and other entities across the state. The updated Asset Inventory is easier to navigate, offers users greater ownership of their representation within the database, and seeks to serve a wider diversity of communities and interests.


This month we also include report-backs from both working groups of the Advisory Council, and a quick update on our newest demonstration projects. 


In partnership, 

The CIAPM Team

New California Precision Medicine Asset Inventory

In partnership with Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in 2019, CIAPM developed an interactive database of resources (or assets) related to advancing precision medicine in California. Entries include research labs, community-based and professional organizations, projects, datasets, private companies, public agencies, and more. The purpose of the Asset Inventory is to foster connections between these expansive networks with a searchable, interactive mapping tool that allows users to find the people, organizations, and projects in California that are of interest to them.  


This summer CIAPM redesigned the Asset Inventory to improve the user experience. The core functions are unchanged: users can filter assets by organization type, organization activity, and health topic, or use a search bar to find more specific terms not captured in the general filters.


New or improved features: 

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Users can easily add or update information about their organizations

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Search results display in a scrollable, easy-to-read list

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Details automatically display when an asset on the list or the map is selected

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Filters are more pronounced and easier to switch on/off

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Downloadable search results

CIAPM staff also created a quick explainer video to introduce the Asset Inventory and provide an overview of the features.

Many thanks especially to our talented Graduate Student Interns and Policy Fellow who led and assisted with the technical development, stakeholder outreach, and collaterals. Let us know how you use the Asset Inventory at ciapm@opr.ca.gov.

Browse the new California Precision Medicine Asset Inventory

Programmatic Updates

Adverse Childhood Experiences Demonstration Projects

All seven projects awarded under CIAPM’s most recent program, Addressing Health Impacts of Adverse Childhood Experiences through a Collaborative Precision Medicine Approach, are already underway or expected to begin very soon. In total, research will be supported and conducted across 18 academic campuses, 13 health systems, 24 community- and county-based organizations, and six companies. What's more, around 105,000 Californians are expected to participate over the next three years as partners in studies that will help drive forward the fields of Adverse Childhood Experiences and toxic stress physiology. Read more about the exciting projects, covering topics from biomarkers of toxic stress and predictive epigenetics to tailored parenting supports, innovative community engagement, and beyond. 

New Graduate Student Intern

In August CIAPM welcomed to the team Graduate Student Intern Alexa Blundell. She immediately jumped into the final stages of the Asset Inventory revamp, including editing and designing graphics for the explainer video. She will next pivot toward creating new infographics for our demonstration projects.


In addition to her internship in the Governor's Office of Planning and Research, Alexa recently stepped into a new role with Centro de los Derechos del Migrante. In partnership with the Centers for Disease Control, she works on infectious disease control and health protections for protein processing workers. 


Alexa uses her training in science, design, and communication to make biomedical data and information more accessible. She is passionate about working with migrant communities in California and continues to support a local health clinic where she lives in the Central Valley that serves uninsured and undocumented patients. She recently completed an ambassadorship with the UC Global Health Institute, where her final project focused on the health impacts of pesticides on California's agricultural workers. 


Alexa earned her Bachelor's degree in Animal Science at UC Davis, and holds a Master's degree in Biomedical Sciences from Charles R. Drew University, where she completed a research thesis on transcriptomic changes in adipose tissue after e-cigarette exposure.

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Alexa Blundell, MS

California Precision Medicine Advisory Council

Data Integration Working Group

During its public meeting on September 8, the Data Integration Working Group, chaired by Dr. Hakan Sakul of Pfizer, Inc., was presented with a landscape analysis by CIAPM staff, discussed ongoing efforts in Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) data integration in California and other states, refined project priorities, and brainstormed external experts to invite for briefings and discussions. California is boldly moving ahead with a massive effort to better incorporate SDOH into health services decision-making and supports, primarily through the new California Innovating and Advancing Medi-Cal (CalAIM) program and the California Data Exchange Framework. The working group is actively exploring more opportunities to engage with and support the state. Guidance from the precision medicine community at large is always welcome at ciapm@opr.ca.gov.  


Equitable Consent Working Group 

The Equitable Consent Working Group met in mid-August for an update and discussion on the progress of the Equitable Consent webpage. For the webpage, CIAPM staff drafted a collection of case studies about egregious mistreatment of research participants (Tuskegee syphilis study, Nazi prison camps, etc.) that demonstrate the need for a robust consent process. Staff are collecting best practices for engaging and recruiting specific underrepresented populations and designing a thorough community outreach process that will guide the development and launch of the website over the next several months. 

Learn more about Advisory Council Working Groups

Advisory Council Meetings

October 14, 2021

1:30 p.m.

Equitable Consent Working Group 


Register 

November 19, 2021

9:00 a.m.

Precision Medicine Advisory Council


Register

November 30, 2021

1:00 p.m.

Data Integration Working Group 


Register

View all Advisory Council Meetings

External Events

October 5, 2021

Improving Diversity of the Genomics Workforce: A NASEM Workshop


National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine

October 6, 2021

Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo: Equity & Effectiveness in the California COVID-19 Response


UC Center Sacramento

October 13, 2021

The Future of Artificial Intelligence: Policy and Ethics


UC San Francisco

View more Events

External Research Opportunities

Implementing Sustainable Evidence-Based Mental Health Practices in Low-Resource Settings to Achieve Mental Health Equity for Traditionally Underserved Populations


NIH

Innovative, Developmental, and Exploratory Awards (IDEA)


Community Research Collaboration


California Breast Cancer Research Program


Innovation Grant: COVID-19 and Health Equity


FDA


View more Research Opportunities
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California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine