UCLA to lead statewide coalition to address COVID-19’s impact on communities at risk

A coalition of 11 academic institutions and their community partners across California has received a $4.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health for a statewide community-engaged approach to addressing COVID-19 among populations that have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

Investigators at UCLA will lead the coalition—called the COVID-19 California Alliance, or STOP COVID-19 CA—which is part of the NIH’s broader Community Engagement Alliance Against COVID-19 Disparities. The partnership is a joint effort among five University of California medical campuses, two additional UC campuses and four other leading academic institutions in California.

“This important collaboration will include 11 major institutions with highly innovative community-partnered research projects,” said co-lead investigator Dr. Arleen Brown, a professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and co-leader of the Community Engagement and Research Program at the UCLA Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI). “These institutions reside and work in diverse communities with high rates of COVID-19 infections and complications across the state. The community input makes all the difference in these projects.”

The NIH grant is for one year and began on Sept. 9, 2020.

In addition to UCLA (coordinating site), its CTSI partner Charles R. Drew University, and community partners throughout the state, STOP COVID-19 CA collaborative sites include UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Merced, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, UC San Francisco, the University of Southern California, Stanford University, Scripps Research and San Diego State University.

Read the full UCLA press release. 

Image source: UCLA

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