CTSI / David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA Wildfire Response Pilot Award

UCLA CTSI and DGSOM intend to issue 2 pilot grant(s) of up to $125,000 for up to 12 months to support projects addressing the following priority topic areas regarding the LA fires of 2025: 

1. Exposures, experiences, stressors, and immediate and longer-term health outcomes, including but not limited to:
   • From exposures to specific toxins in the air (indoor and outdoor), smoke, ash, soil, water, or debris.
   • Cardiac, Pulmonary, Metabolic, Cancers, Neurological, Mental/Behavioral, Maternal-Child Health, Accelerated Aging.
   • Effects on pregnancy and birth outcomes.
   • Pathways, mediators, mechanisms of action, interactions across the socio-ecological model.
   • Disease incidence, biomarkers, or epigenetic markers of toxicological exposures.
2. Health outcomes associated with strategies for reducing physical health and mental health impacts, including protective equipment, air filtration, community-based interventions and recovery programs.
3. Health and well-being effects associated with recovery (eg, housing instability, socio-economic factors)
4. Disproportionate health outcomes in children, the elderly, individuals with preexisting conditions, unhoused individuals, and other at-risk groups.

This program does NOT support projects that:

• Do not include a central focus on the population of Los Angeles County and the 2025 fires.
• Unable to immediately start and complete within 12 months of Award Start Date.
• Projects without a clear plan for long-term scalability will not be considered.

All UCLA faculty members in any series (tenured/non-tenured) including adjunct and professional research series may apply. Proposals from multi-disciplinary teams will be the most competitive. Multiple PI projects are accepted. Non-faculty researchers (professional researchers, project scientists, research scientists, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students) are eligible to be listed as a Co-Investigator(s) on a faculty member’s application. 

Projects must be completed within one year. Cost extensions are only allowed under extraordinary circumstances. Awardees will be requested to present their study plans to a community advisory board from the CTSI. Awardees must submit a brief interim progress report at the half-way point (February 1, 2026) of the award that describes the progress towards project milestones. A final report must be submitted within 30 days of the project end date. Annual updates on project progress or continuation, publications, grants submitted, or grants awarded from this pilot work will be required as a condition of award. We will not be providing reviews of unsuccessful awards.

• Cover page
  • Title of Proposal
  • Name of principal investigator(s), co-investigators, and collaborators (include degree, departments)
  • Abstract (300-word max) – provide a succinct overview of the proposal, including plans for long-term scalability or how the proposal aligns with aims of the L.A. Fire HEALTH Study.
• Body of Application (limit three pages)
  • Specific Aims
  • Significance
  • Methods/Approach
  • Investigators
  • Timeline/Plans for Future Funding
• Literature Cited (no page limit)
• NIH Biosketch for the PI(s) and each co-investigator and/or collaborator
• Budget and Budget Justification

  • Including faculty salaries is discouraged and will require a strong justification. Non-faculty researchers may be eligible to receive salary support by including justification for how their role will directly support the research project.

    Proposals should be single-spaced, in Arial 11 font, left-aligned with half-inch margins. Appendices should not be included. Your proposal must be complete when submitted and include all items noted above.

Submission: Applications must be submitted by 5pm PST on June 12, 2025 through the Submission link.

Applications will be reviewed by representatives of the UCLA CTSI and UCLA DGSOM. Reviewers will consider each of the review criteria (below) to assess merit.

• Significance: Does the project address an important set of LA Fire related exposures, experiences or stressors with relevant and consequential health outcomes? Is the project’s potential clinical impact clear and compelling? Does the project involve any special emphasis topics as outlined in Section I?
• Approach/Scientific Rigor: Are the procedures and analysis plans justified and appropriate to accomplish the specific aims?
• Potential for Future Funding: Do the PI and collaborators have a specific plan for scalability and external funding?
• Investigators: Do the PI and collaborators have the expertise needed to conduct the project? Do the investigators have relevant expertise and experience?
• Community Centered Approach: How does the proposed project plan to engage the LA community? 

All applications involving human subjects and/or vertebrate animals must receive full regulatory approvals (e.g., IRB, IACUC) prior to receiving access to funds.