Rapid Response RFA - The GEM Challenge – COVID-19
COVID-19 represents a tremendous challenge for everyone and has put a strain on our healthcare system and community that we have never before experienced. UCSD has some of the smartest and most creative faculty and students in basic science, clinical care, and engineering that we now need to mobilize to help our hardworking healthcare providers fight the coronavirus pandemic at multiple levels. The Galvanizing Engineering in Medicine Program (GEM) has been sponsored by UCSD Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute (ACTRI) and the Institute of Engineering in Medicine (IEM) for the past 7 years and has brought 25 teams of engineers and clinicians together to develop innovative technologies that can be applied to solving challenging problems in medical care. The program has been extremely successful and provides a model for how we can use the extraordinary clinical and engineering talent at UCSD and their collective knowledge to identify the most pressing COVID-19 healthcare challenges and develop engineering solutions that can be implemented rapidly.
We have a small amount of funds available, in part due to a generous contribution from Professor Shu Chien, the former director of the IEM. We hope that the community will further contribute to this effort. We invite teams that include at least one Clinically Active UCSD Faculty Member and one Engineering Faculty Member as PIs to submit a 2-page proposal that describes a COVID-19 healthcare problem and the engineering technology that will be used to solve the problem. The problem must be related to COVID-19, and includes diagnostics, therapeutic interventions, preventive measures, telehealth, and personal protective equipment.
APPLICATION GUIDELINES
Applications should be well-written, precise, and succinct and include the following:
- Title Page - Name, Department Affiliation(s), and email address of all PIs and Participating Investigators, Project Title.
- Healthcare or Public Health Problem and Engineering Solution (two pages maximum).
- List all grant applications relating to this project that you have already submitted (e.g. UCOP, UCSD ORA) and indicate their status (pending, funded, not funded).
- NIH-style biographical sketch (four pages maximum per investigator) for each member of the submitting team.
- Budget and Justification (total amount $15,000-$30,000) – Funds may only be used for supplies, trainee or technician salary, core lab fees, and essential equipment for prototype development. No funds may be used for faculty salary, travel, clerical help, office supplies, books and subscriptions, publication expenses, or graduate student's tuition remissions or fees.
- Time Necessary to Complete the Project – Only short-term projects that can be implemented quickly will be considered.
Applications should adhere to the following formatting specifications:
- 11‐point Arial font
- Single‐spaced
- 5 inch margins on all sides
- 8 ½" x 11" (i.e., standard size) paper
- Number all pages
- No appendices are allowed
HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION
All sections must be collated into a single document (docx or pdf) and submitted as an attachment to an e-mail to Kathleen Kennedy (kkennedy@health.ucsd.edu).
Please contact Dr. Deborah Spector (dspector@health.ucsd.edu) or Dr. Andrew McCulloch (amcculloch@ucsd.edu) with any questions about the RFA.
Applications will be accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis until funds are expended. 2-4 grants will be awarded.
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