University of California San Diego REACH Center for Translational Science on Whole Person Health (UCSD REACH)

The University of California San Diego REACH Center for Translational Science on Whole Person Health (UCSD REACH) creates partnerships between UC San Diego and accredited complementary and integrative health (CIH) institutions to drive the advancement of translational science on whole person health, an NCCIH priority. The proposed UCSD REACH leverages the traditional knowledge and clinical experience of CIH partner institutions in whole person health practices, and pairs them with the cutting-edge scientific expertise and resources of UC San Diego, with additional expertise, mentoring, and collaborative opportunities with faculty scientists from multiple participating University of California campuses. The proposed Center creates a bi-directional research generator informed by the CIH expertise of partnering institutions coupled with the robust research capacity of a Tier 1 academic research university at a scale that has never before been accomplished. The Directors of UCSD REACH each bring complementary track records of leadership on NIH- and NCCIH-supported research projects and training programs (T32, T90/R90, and K), plus over two decades of experience collaborating with CIH institutions. The UCSD REACH Center will meet the following specific aims: 1) Build the research capacity at CIH partner institutions; 2) Invest in fostering the research careers of partners’ faculty through UCSD REACH Scholars--a CIH translational scientist training and mentoring program to accelerate the Scholars’ research activities and competitiveness; 3) Support pilot projects and generate competitive extramural grant proposals resulting from collaborative development of promising research ideas into rigorous study designs; 4) Evaluate UCSD REACH on formative and summative metrics including a demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and access. The UCSD REACH will provide access to the wealth of resources at UC San Diego, which is nationally ranked #5 in NIH funding among public universities and #13 overall. Resources across UC San Diego and multiple UC campuses will be available for this initiative in order to elevate the research capacities of our partners. Resources include documented commitments from the UCSD CTSA-funded Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute, along with faculty, mentors and advisors from UC Irvine’s Samueli Integrative Health Institute, the Center for Integrative Medicine at UC Davis, the UCSF Osher Center, and UCLA’s Geffen School of Medicine. The six inaugural partners include accredited CIH institutions with programs in physical therapy, osteopathic manual medicine, naturopathy, chiropractic, and East Asian medicine, with plans for expanding partnerships to a total of 16 institutions over the funding period, and producing a total of 28 trained Scholars. The scientific framework focusing on Translational Science on Whole Person Health sets the proposed UCSD REACH apart, and allows partnering institutions and their faculty to be in lockstep with new developments in science through access to cutting-edge tools and resources, and become active partners in innovative science while building capacity.