Top five will win $20,000 each
The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and UCLA Health System are staging an online competition to fund projects aimed at transforming health in the Los Angeles region.
Starting Monday, Jan. 12, UCLA faculty, staff and students, as well as members of the general public, are invited to cast votes in the “Helping U Help Your Community” competition to fund community-partnered, academic research or service learning projects intended to address the region’s critical health needs and impact community health outcomes. The contest also aims to showcase UCLA faculty and community partners who devote their careers to identifying creative solutions to some of the most challenging barriers to good health.
Five projects that receive the most votes between Jan. 12-30 will be awarded $20,000 each in startup funding. The 29 nominees range from a student-run homeless clinic led by Dr. Mary Marfisee, who directs the UCLA School Of Nursing Health Center at the Union Rescue Mission in downtown L.A., to a project led by Dr. David Martins, a professor and assistant dean at the medical school, in which UCLA nutritionists and students from L.A. culinary schools would develop healthy, low-calorie versions of ethnic dishes for introduction in South L.A., a low-income population that has the highest obesity-related morbidity and mortality rates in L.A. County.
“We are trying to fund projects that advance the most promising or innovative ideas to improve the health of Los Angeles residents,” said Dr. Carol Mangione, who directs the community engagement effort along with Pattie Cuen, chief marketing officer for UCLA Health System. “Promising research projects could provide critical knowledge that, if applied broadly, would have a huge impact,” Mangione said.
Visit http://changemakers.com/ucla to learn more about the projects and to vote.
