Luis Carvajal-Carmona Among UC Davis Health Researchers Awarded Grant to Advance Health Equity through Precision Medicine

Three UC Davis Health researchers have received state funding to advance precision medicine and expand access to data-driven care. Luis Carvajal-Carmona received $1.7 million through the California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine’s Representative Research Partnerships Program, while M.D./Ph.D. students Joseph Morrison and Nikita Mohapatra received funding through the initiative’s inaugural Next-Gen Representative Research Program.

Carvajal-Carmona’s project will bring genomic screening to Federally Qualified Health Centers in rural, medically underserved communities north of Sacramento. Working with Ampla Health and co-principal investigator Cindy Snelgrove, his team will identify patients with inherited risks for cancer and cardiovascular disease. Nearly 400,000 Californians are estimated to carry genetic predispositions to these conditions, yet many do not know they are at increased risk.

The goal is to identify those risks earlier and connect patients with appropriate prevention and intervention. The project was one of four selected from nearly 100 applications and will also help develop a model for delivering genomic medicine in underserved communities that could be expanded through statewide population genomics programs.

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