School of Medicine

Director: David Lo M.D., Ph.D. david.lo@medsch.ucr.edu; breathe.ucr.edu

The BREATHE Center at the University of California, Riverside School of Medicine is a multidisciplinary collaborative for studies Bridging Regional Ecology, Aerosolized Toxins, and Health Effects. Research efforts among the collaborative include regional climate modeling, culture and policy studies on air quality and health, environmental justice and health disparities, and the health impacts of aerosolized particles including dusts, soil microbes, allergenic pollens from invasive species, and pollutants.

The main partners in this work include faculty in the Center for Conservation Biology (CCB), the College of Engineering Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CE-CERT), and Biomedical Sciences in the School of Medicine. Affiliated faculty include researchers in the Bourns College of Engineering (BCOE),the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (CNAS), the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (CHASS), the School of Public Policy (SPP), and the School of Medicine (SOM). There are also affiliations with the Science and Technology Studies group in the UCR Center for Ideas and Society, and Health Assessment and Research for Communities (HARC).

Innovative Collaborations Applied to Problems of Brain Health and Disease

Director: Monica J. Carson, Ph.D. Associate Director: Iryna M. Ethell, Ph.D. 1274 Webber Hall

• (951) 827-6089

monica.carson@ucr.edu; cgni.ucr.edu

The Center for Glial-Neuronal Interactions (CGNI) in UCR’s School of Medicine is dedicated to facilitating innovative collaborations between neuro- and glial-centric researchers as well as with researchers from outside the field of neuroscience. The ultimate goal is to understand central nervous system function at a molecular level with the goal of identifying risk factors and therapeutic targets of intervention for cognitive, neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative central nervous system diseases. Ongoing research includes programs on Alzheimer’s disease, autism spectrum disorders, cognitive disorders, epilepsy, glioblastoma, infections of the brain, multiple sclerosis, neuroinflammatory disorders, phantom limb syndrome, stroke, substance abuse and traumatic brain injury.

Director: Greer Sullivan, M.D. greer.sullivan@medsch.ucr.edu; healthycommunities.ucr.edu

The Center for Healthy Communities (CHC) works with community partners to employ innovative community-based research that promotes the health of communities in Inland Southern California. CHC is building bridges with community groups and interdisciplinary health-field faculty to improve the health of the culturally and economically diverse population surrounding UCR, particularly the medically underserved.

The center fosters collaborations between UCR faculty, community-based organizations, grass-roots community leaders, and investigators at RAND and UCLA. Although the center is housed in the UCR School of Medicine, the intention is for it be of benefit to all UCR faculty and programs and to community-based partners.

Director: Maurizio Pellecchia, Ph.D. maurizio.pellecchia@ucr.edu; molmed.ucr.edu 17 / Introducing UC Riverside

This campus-wide initiative provides a forum to accelerate and enhance collaboration among faculty whose research is devoted to the translation of basic sciences into potential therapeutics, medical devices or diagnostics. With this initiative, UC Riverside and the School of Medicine commit to devote resources to assist in the development of novel treatments. The translation of basic laboratory discoveries into potential therapies, however, requires a multitude of efforts and expertise that no individual laboratory or funding source can, in isolation, fulfill. Potentially effective therapeutic strategies often never reach the patients due to the lack proper support necessary to channel basic laboratory pre-clinical studies through the complex and rigorous testing of experimental therapeutics. It is envisioned that the Center would either directly support or catalyze funding initiatives to advance the most promising innovative targeting approaches and agents into early stage clinical experimental therapeutics, therefore actively assisting in the first steps toward their development.