3 UC Davis Health researchers awarded state grants to advance health equity through precision medicine

(SACRAMENTO)

Three UC Davis Health researchers - a seasoned scientist and two medical students - have been awarded grants from the California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine.

The initiative supports leading-edge biomedical and health research aimed at improving patient care and advancing health equity.

The UC Davis grant recipients are:

• Joseph Morrison, a medical student in the dual-degree M.D./Ph.D. program who is in the doctoral phase of his studies with the biomedical engineering graduate group
• Nikita Mohapatra, also an M.D./Ph.D. program student who is also working towards her Ph.D. in biomedical engineering
• Luis Carvajal-Carmona, associate vice chancellor and professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine

The initiative, which is part of the California Health & Human Services Agency, awarded grants in two different categories in recent weeks.

One category is the Representative Research Partnerships Program, which funds precision medicine researchers to work with an academic or community partner. Carvajal-Carmona under this program received $1.7 million to pair up with a Federally Qualified Health Center to support genetic testing in rural areas.

The second category is the initiative's inaugural Next-Gen Representative Research Program, which provided grants to student researchers, mostly at University of California schools. The $1.8 million fund was split among 12 students - including Morrison and Mohapatra - to cover their expenses as they step away from traditional medical school curriculum and delve into Ph.D. research projects.

In a striking coincidence, Morrison and Mohapatra are not only medical school colleagues in the same M.D./Ph.D. program - they also were classmates at Davis Senior High School.

"It is already remarkably uncommon for two students from the same high school class to go on to M.D./Ph.D. training, much less end up in the same program," said John A. Gray, director of the UC Davis School of Medicine M.D./Ph.D. program. "To now see both of them recognized with the same competitive statewide research award is pretty special."

Joseph Morrison: Using AI to learn about broken bones

M.D./Ph.D. student Joseph Morrison plans to use machine-learning to review X-rays and doctor's notes to help determine why some people's broken bones fuse back together and others don't.

Morrison's award will allow him to focus on his doctoral research, which he began last academic year. His work aims to develop clinically meaningful, data-driven approaches that improve diagnosis and management of musculoskeletal injury across diverse, particularly rural, healthcare settings.

He was inspired to take on the project after learning that a friend who broke a leg didn't completely heal and suffered from chronic pain.

Morrison realized that sometimes people's broken bones fuse back together and other times they don't, which is called nonunion.

"Some people who have orthopedic surgeries for whatever reason get their bones fixed but they don't heal back together. I'm trying to see if we can predict when nonunion is going to occur based on data that's collected during a standard visit."

To seek answers, Morrison plans to collect X-rays of shin bones and review doctors' notes and analyze both using machine learning approaches to accurately predict nonunion. If nonunion can be confidently predicted, Morrison said, then an orthopedic surgeon can intervene earlier than usual with revision treatment, such as inserting a rod into the leg.

M.D./Ph.D. student Nikita Mohapatra's doctoral thesis will explore how cumulative social and environmental stress affect recovery after traumatic brain injury.

Nikita Mohapatra: Helping patients recover from traumatic brain injury

Mohapatra's doctoral thesis explores how cumulative social and environmental stress can shape recovery after traumatic brain injury.

Her two-year research project will examine biomarkers of acute disease by studying cellular vesicles - tiny particles that cells release into the bloodstream and that can be traced back to the specific tissue that released them.

She wants to learn why patients with the same diagnosis can have very different recovery outcomes by connecting social and environmental factors.

"We often think of recovery when the injury occurs, but it really began way before that," she said.

Mohapatra wants to examine people being treated for traumatic brain injury and see how lived experiences, such as being exposed to environmental toxins while growing up, prompt measurable biological changes in the body.

"In general, there's always this underlying push for precision medicine, but I think it's often thought of in terms of genetics. I want to underline that it's much broader than that," she said. "Our biology is more than DNA."

Luis Carvajal-Carmona: Identifying hereditary conditions earlier in rural settings

Luis Carvajal-Carmona, associate vice chancellor for the Office of Academic Diversity, is teaming up with Ampla Health to screen for hereditary cancer and heart disease in rural, medically underserved populations north of Sacramento.

Carvajal-Carmona, an experienced genetic researcher, received $1.7 million to advance equitable precision medicine in Federally Qualified Health Centers.

Many individuals with hereditary cancer and cardiovascular risk remain undiagnosed in rural, underserved communities. Carvajal-Carmona is teaming up with Ampla Health in rural counties north of Sacramento to offer genomic screening and identify hereditary conditions earlier.

"This study will help pioneer approaches for implementing genomics-based prevention of cancer and heart disease in underserved populations," Carvajal-Carmona said. "We hope the results will provide a model for statewide population genomics programs that can identify people at inherited risk before disease develops, enabling early interventions that save lives."

It is believed that nearly 400,000 Californians carry genetic predispositions to cancer or heart disease, Carvajal-Carmona said. However, many do not know they are at increased risk.

"This program has the potential to demonstrate how genomic medicine can be delivered equitably and at scale to improve health outcomes across the state," he added.

Carvajal-Carmona's co-principal investigator is Cindy Snelgrove, the chief clinical services officer at Ampla Health. Their team's project was one of only four grants funded by the initiative, from nearly 100 applications.