Representative Precision Medicine Research Through Partnerships
🏛 CA Health and Human Services Agency (California)
Can you apply?
This grant is for research institutions and community organizations partnering to conduct precision medicine research in California.
Academic institutions (nonprofit) must lead or co-lead projects alongside community partners. Community partners can include nonprofits, community-based organizations, patient advocacy groups, community clinics, public entities, or Tribal organizations. All research must focus on California, with data from California populations.
Projects must address health disparities, include underrepresented populations as participants, and create a precision medicine asset (dataset, methodology, service, or database). Research must demonstrate commitment to recruiting and retaining participants from underrepresented groups.
Academic-academic partnerships are also eligible if the second institution adds capacity, expertise, or training opportunities.
This grant is for research institutions and community organizations partnering to conduct precision medicine research in California.
Academic institutions (nonprofit) must lead or co-lead projects alongside community partners. Community partners can include nonprofits, community-based organizations, patient advocacy groups, community clinics, public entities, or Tribal organizations. All research must focus on California, with data from California populations.
Projects must address health disparities, include underrepresented populations as participants, and create a precision medicine asset (dataset, methodology, service, or database). Research must demonstrate commitment to recruiting and retaining participants from underrepresented groups.
Academic-academic partnerships are also eligible if the second institution adds capacity, expertise, or training opportunities.
Program description
Award selection will have three stages. Deadlines: Letter of Intent (required): 11/21/25 Initial Application: 1/23/26 Full Application: 4/24/26 The California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine (CIAPM) will award $6 million to support approximately 3-5 project teams conducting representative precision medicine research projects in California over a 2.5-year project term. Precision medicine calls for the modern application of scientific data and clinical practice toward the individualization of prevention, diagnosis, measurement, and treatment of disease and wellbeing. This funding opportunity aims to support precision medicine and representative research that leverage partnerships within California, include underrepresented populations, who have been underrecognized or historically excluded, as research participants, and reduce health disparities, so that research benefits all people within California and promotes health innovation for all California communities. Research teams must be co-led by at least one California non-profit academic research institution and either (1) at least one nonprofit community-based organization, patient advocacy group, community clinic, or public or Tribal entity that adds lived experience, expertise, and/or community or data assets OR (2) another California non-profit academic research institution that adds capacity, expertise, capability, scalability, and/or training opportunities. Partnerships should aim to break down silos between academic institutions and communities (academic-community partnerships) or between academic institutions (academic-academic partnerships), connect different areas and methods of analyses within precision medicine (such as cellular and biological systems as well as community, population, and societal systems), and foster co-learning in which partners’ strengths and capacity needs are acknowledged for meaningful integration of perspectives. Research projects must aim to make biomedical research more inclusive, and thus more applicable and beneficial to all Californians. The applicant must describe how their application will support representative research, incorporate a precision medicine approach to study health disparities, potentially including social determinants of health data, and leverage partnerships. Projects must take place in California, and data should focus on people that live in California but are not limited to only California populations. Projects must demonstrate prioritization of recruiting, enrolling, and retaining participants who are from underrepresented populations. The proposed research must include a deliverable of a precision medicine asset, such as a new dataset, previous datasets that have been integrated and/or optimized for interoperability, new methodology, services, resources, or a database for patients or interested research participants. The proposed research must also include the creation of promotional materials that encourage participation of individuals from underrepresented populations in the research study and that describe the importance of biomedical research in the context of the research question and populations engaged.
Who can apply
Eligible applicants
- 501(c)(3) Public Charity
- Community Health Center
- HBCU
- Nonprofits
- Public Authority
- Public University
- Tribal Nation
Demographic focus
Details
This grant is for research institutions and community organizations partnering to conduct precision medicine research in California.
Academic institutions (nonprofit) must lead or co-lead projects alongside community partners. Community partners can include nonprofits, community-based organizations, patient advocacy groups, community clinics, public entities, or Tribal organizations. All research must focus on California, with data from California populations.
Projects must address health disparities, include underrepresented populations as participants, and create a precision medicine asset (dataset, methodology, service, or database). Research must demonstrate commitment to recruiting and retaining participants from underrepresented groups.
Academic-academic partnerships are also eligible if the second institution adds capacity, expertise, or training opportunities.
How to apply
Application links
Required documents
- Letter of Intent
- Initial Application materials
- Full Application/Project Narrative
- Budget and budget justification
- Letters of commitment from all partner organizations
- Evidence of community partnerships
- Recruitment and retention plan for underrepresented populations
- Precision medicine asset description
Program contact
- 📧 ciapm@chhs.ca.gov
- 📞 1-916-279-6335
FAQ
What counts as a "representative precision medicine asset"?
Examples include new or integrated datasets, methodology, services, online resources, or databases accessible to patients or researchers. Your project must deliver at least one asset.
Do I need a community partner?
Yes. Lead institutions must partner with either a nonprofit community organization, patient advocacy group, clinic, public/Tribal entity, or another academic institution that adds capacity and expertise.
What's the timeline for this grant?
Letter of Intent due 11/21/25, Initial Application 1/23/26, Full Application 4/24/26. Project duration is 2.5 years.
How much funding should we request?
Awards range from $1.2 million to $2 million. Approximately 3-5 projects will be funded from the $6 million pool.
What populations should our research focus on?
Projects must prioritize recruiting underrepresented populations historically excluded from biomedical research. Include data on social determinants of health where relevant.
💡 Tips for applicants
- Form partnerships early. Spend time building trust and alignment with community partners before drafting your proposal.
- Document underrepresentation. Clearly define which populations your research will prioritize and why they've been historically excluded from research.
- Plan your asset deliverable. Specify exactly what dataset, methodology, or resource you'll create and how it will benefit future research.
- Address health disparities explicitly. Connect your precision medicine approach directly to reducing health disparities in your target communities.
- Create strong recruitment materials. Plan promotional materials early that will appeal to underrepresented populations and explain research value in clear, accessible language.
⚠️ Common mistakes
Applications fail when partnerships feel transactional rather than truly collaborative. Community voices must shape research direction, not just participate. Projects that focus only on basic science without clear health disparity reduction are less competitive. Missing a precision medicine asset or unclear plans for community engagement and recruitment hurt chances.
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