Phase 2 Proposal

Advisors/ Partners: Jacquelyn Torres, Patience Afulani, Brittany Chambers, Nadia Diamond-Smith, Deb Karasek, Dilys Walker, Maria Glymour   

While a great deal of research related to maternal and child health is being conducted within the Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics (DEB), no DEB mechanism exists for connecting the work of these groups. In addition, while many of these groups work closely with clinical and other UCSF programs to leverage data related to maternal and child health currently held by DEB faculty for subanalyses and targeted products (manuscripts, grants), no formal mechanism exists for connecting clinical researchers and trainees with DEB faculty and data or for supporting associated analytic and investigative efforts. If such a program existed it would serve not only to connect faculty, staff and trainees within and outside of the department but it would also aid in accelerating discovery and translation focused on maternal and child health.

We propose to establish a PopUlation and Maternal-Child Health Accelerator program within the department that would work in concert with other clinical and academic programs to investigate critical maternal and child health problems with translation of innovative findings into clinical and public health settings. Our hope is that eventually, PUMA will become a nested center within DEB that serves as a hub for interdisciplinary maternal and child-health focused research wherein intense intellectual engagement, debate and progress is fostered.

PUMA would serve a critical need within the department in that it would link the multiple teams currently doing research in maternal and child health and it would allow for the creation of a virtual core of experts and data sources that could be applied to a broader scope of outcomes and health inequities than are currently being addressed by individual projects. PUMA would also provide a critical bridge to other clinical and academic programs, faculty, and trainees who often want to gain access to data but have neither the time, resources, or expertise to secure and utilize them. Examples of data that could be leveraged for this effort includes State and National birth certificate, environmental and census data, state hospital discharge data, and data related to health care, pregnancy, birth and other outcomes collected in Africa, India and in other developing settings. Through PUMA, programs and trainees could gain access to data and to department experts. As such, we believe that PUMA would lead to new and productive partnerships and ultimately to accelerated translation from data and discovery to clinical and public health interventions.

PUMA would be a multi-year effort. The first year of the program would focus on establishing the program and on creating a resource and sustainability plan. Specifically, in year one we would: 1) Convene a cross-department summit to a) learn about data that is currently in use across the department that could be leveraged towards this focus; And, b) learn about within department programs and project teams working in maternal and child health; 2) Meet with chairs and faculty from other departments to assess their data and collaboration needs for faculty and trainees and to explore co-funding opportunities (starting with Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, Pediatrics, and Psychiatry); 3) Develop a department page for PUMA that provides information on department resources and projects and personnel doing work in maternal and child health that includes an engagement tool for facilitating connections between our department and other clinical and academic programs; 4) Create a sustainability plan for funding in year two and beyond that includes outreach and potential trainings across the university depending on other clinical and academic program needs; 5) Initiate at least three demonstration projects (at least one of which will be focused on data from a developing setting; And, 6) Draft an NICHD R21/R33 phased infrastructure development grant (submission Fall 2020) to support PUMA (with an eventual eye on an R24 for obtaining further support, a T32 training grant, and nested topic-specific R21, R01, and philanthropic grants). Evaluation of PUMA in FY1 will be focused specifically on completion of activities 1-6.

Total request for the first year of the program is $100,000 which includes: $15,000 for a Program Coordinator at 15% time; $40,000 for faculty support at 5% maximum time for demonstration project leads (with a focus on junior faculty); $7,000 for a faculty retreat; $8,000 for website development and launch and for nested RedCap/ Qualtrics survey; $30,000 for analytic support for demonstration projects.

Of note is the strength of this project with respect to the DEB BIG IDEA review criteria. The proposed project meets and excels with respect to all criteria in that it: 1) Engages a broad group of faculty within the department (via outreach to individuals and via the proposed retreat); 2) It has the potential to attract future funding through university and clinical funding and through grants, contracts and philanthropy that would support specific nested projects and PUMA infrastructure; 3) It has the potential to dramatically increase the visibility of DEB within UCSF and elsewhere in that it will increase awareness around existing resources, will provide access to data and experts, and will lead to the acceleration of research on maternal and child health; 4) It will be able to show significant project within one year across multiple fronts based on targeted and time-specific deliverables; 5) It includes a focused sustainability plan that will require no or minimal departmental funds after the first year.