Research Operations
The Research Operations unit under the School of Medicine Office of Research facilitates research administration activities by providing various services including those listed below.
For inquiries, please submit a services request.
The Research Operations unit is responsible for the management of the Sponsored Programs for the School of Medicine. It reviews and processes all School of Medicine proposals including research grants and health science contract proposals.
All School of Medicine proposals are electronically routed and processed through Cayuse SP from School of Medicine departments and units to UC Davis Sponsored Programs.
To submit a proposal for a Sponsored Programs:
- Please review the guidelines (PDF) and workflow (PDF) prior to submitting your proposal for School of Medicine’s approval.
- Use Mozilla Firefox to submit your proposal.
- Make sure to list School of Medicine as the last unit in the approval chain when submitting your proposal.
- Once all the applicable Department Chairs/Directors have approved the proposal in Cayuse SP, the system will automatically send an email notification to School of Medicine indicating there is a pending approval.
- School of Medicine requires at least 1 business day after the Cayuse email notification for review before it is approved.
- Please check the FAQs for answers on common questions. If you have any inquiry, submit a service request or contact somor@ucdavis.edu or 916-703-9141 for School of Medicine procedure clarification or concerns.
Note: For clinical trials that go to Health Systems Contracts, please follow the updated Clinical Trials (CT) Workflow (PDF).
When submitting to the UC Davis Health Clinical Trials Contracts office, it is important to know that:
- All Confidential Disclosure Agreements (CDA’s) should continue to be submitted directly to the Clinical Trials Contracts Office analyst (Lorie Dilts: ledilts@ucdavis.edu) via email with an editable agreement and e-mail chain that identifies the external contact for negotiation.
- Review the Handbook for Department Industry-Funded Clinical Trial Staff, Principal Investigators and Approvers for step-by-step instructions (PDF) on how to submit through Cayuse SP.
- You will still need to secure a signature from your Department Chair on the Unified Budget Template (UBT). After the UBT has been signed by the Department Chair, you will submit the UBT to the Clinical Trials Contracts budget analyst (Julie Calahan; jecalahan@ucdavis.edu), who will review and upload into Cayuse SP.
- Review the clinical trials business process workflow (PDF) to determine the responsibilities of the department. This workflow is also included in the Handbook.
- All conflict of interest (COI) disclosures on the 700U and Form 800 will be required to be submitted through the eCOI online disclosure system beginning July 1st. Please contact the Research Compliance and Integrity team directly with any questions on this process.
Overview and useful information for proposal and awards management:
- Cayuse SP quick start guide (PDF) and Cayuse Handbook (PDF) for an overview of the process and step-by-step instructions.
- Visit the Spark page for additional information and training material. If your proposal requires an Exception to Policy Form - Form 105 A (PDF), upload this form in your Cayuse SP proposal under the Attachments tab. The form will be signed by the School of Medicine Dean and returned to you via email.
- More details on Principal Investigator Eligibility to submit proposals.
Contact somor@ucdavis.edu or 916-703-9141 with questions for School of Medicine procedure clarification or any other questions.
Contact the Cayuse Rapid Response Team (ORCayuseHelp@ucdavis.edu) with any questions for Cayuse SP and/or 424 assistance and cc: SOMOR@ucdavis.edu.
Research data analysis/preparation of analytical reports for various data including, but not limited to
- Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research, a nonprofit organization that uses the NIH’s Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tool for its annual reports and rankings. This data analysis includes all School of Medicine departments and rankings from the last ten years.
- UC Davis Office of Research grant data analysis from quarterly data of all School of Medicine grants and health science contracts. It includes extramural funding by administrative and home departments for federal vs. non-federal funding, types of NIH funding by institution, etc.
- Publication data analysis utilizing SciVal and Web of Science Insights as another metric of overall assessment of School of Medicine, in addition to grant analytics.
This program provides one-time funding to PIs who have lost or will lose their primary extramural funding. Funds ensure continuation of a research project for an interim period until extramural support can be reestablished. The PI Bridge Program is administered by the UC Davis Office of Research, but bridge applications are processed and awarded by each school and college.
Please submit all completed documentation to Anuurad Erdembileg at anuerdem@ucdavis.edu and fill out a submit request form. The bridge funding approval process takes at least one month. Forms submitted directly to the UC Davis Office of Research will be delayed.
A seed grant is generally funded through internal sources to help develop a project up to the point where external funding can be obtained. Seed grants allow faculty to develop programs resulting in new partnerships and serve as a platform to build a larger externally funded program in engagement and outreach activities. Seed grants are an investment in a promising research project; investigators receiving this funding pledge to be dedicated to produce groundbreaking approaches and research, create meaningful educational opportunities, and integrate concepts of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
UC Davis Seed/Pilot Grant Opportunities
Global Affairs announces a call for proposals for its Seed Grant Programs to faculty to take on innovative research, service, and engagement projects. Principal investigators (PI) can submit the completed forms and the required documentation for Global Affairs Seed Grants to Anuurad Erdembileg at anuerdem@ucdavis.edu.
- Pew – Stewart scholars Program
- Hartwell individual biomedical research award
- Searle Scholars Program
For more information please contact somor@ucdavis.edu or submit a service request.
- UC Davis Chancellor’s Fellows
- Association for Clinical and Translational Science (ACTS) Distinguished Investigator Awards - the Edward H. Ahrens, Jr. Award for Outstanding Achievement in Patient-Oriented Research
- Association for Clinical and Translational Science (ACTS) Distinguished Investigator Awards – Distinguished Educator Award
- Association for Clinical and Translational Science (ACTS) Distinguished Investigator Awards – Team Science Award
- American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) PINS prize for Neuromodulation
- American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellows nomination
- The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) Gustav O. Lienhard Award
- Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Robert Wood Johnson Foundation David E. Rogers Award
- Harrington Prize for Innovative Medicine
- Ross Prize in Molecular Medicine
- The Research Exemplar Project
- Lasker Basic Biomedical Research Award
Administrative Coordinating Council of Deans (ACCD) provides institutional matches in support of major extramural grants that involve faculty from three or more schools/colleges/divisions (or faculty from Office of Research and two colleges/ schools/ divisions).
Researchers should consult and review the preferred templates with the School of Medicine, Office of Research prior to presenting to ACCD by emailing somor@ucdavis.edu. The ACCD match funding requests should be submitted at least 5 weeks prior to sponsor’s deadlines. Forms submitted directly to the UC Davis Office of Research will be delayed.
All match requests are reviewed initially for:
- Academic merit
- Scope of impact
- Minimum of 3 units: Office of Research + 2 colleges/divisions/schools or 3 colleges/divisions/schools
- Breadth of faculty involved in the grant proposal and whether a match is required (formally or implicitly) by the funding agency or simply desired
- Financial/budget templates and presentation on match request type for ACCD requests. It can be found at https://research.ucdavis.edu/offices/committees/accd/.
If a request does not pass initial review, it may be negotiated outside of ACCD by email led by the UC Davis Office of Research. The Associate Dean from the School of Medicine may refer PI to the School of Medicine Grants Facilitation Unit or to the Interdisciplinary Research Support (IRS) team in the Office of Research for guidance.
- Additional ACCD guidelines for multi- investigator, equipment, and training grants
- Other UC Davis Funding programs
Principal investigators (PI) can submit Letter of Support (LOS) requests to somor@ucdavis.edu and cc: Anuurad Erdembileg at anuerdem@ucdavis.edu.
All forms that require the dean’s signature must be routed to the School of Medicine Office of Research at somor@ucdavis.edu with the subject line "Dean’s Signature Request".
Prospective applicants should reach out to School of Medicine Assistant Dean for Research, Anuurad Erdembileg (anuerdem@ucdavis.edu) regarding matching support funds and complete request form.
School of Medicine Matching Support for Program Project and Center Grants Request Form (PDF)
School of Medicine Office of Research Support For Symposiums and Conferences Request Form (PDF)
Most facilities (core and shared resource facilities) develop from a bottom up approach to meet the needs of an individual or a small group of investigators. Expanding access to the facility services by others in the research community results in service expectations of the user community that are best met by development of formal access and use policies as well as a formal method of sharing ongoing expenses across all users. This transition from a small, dedicated user base to a professional core that serves many needs to include development of a management plan to guide the transition and to ensure long-term sustainability along with approved new recharge rates or changes to existing approved rates per UC Davis Budget and Institutional Analysis (BIA) policies/guidelines.
All School of Medicine departments or units that plan to develop a new facility that will recharge for services should contact Christine Bates (canbates@ucdavis.edu) with a completed School of Medicine Business Plan Template (DOC) and Rate Calculation Worksheet 6.3 (XLSX). Regardless of recharge rate approval authority, all files are internally reviewed by School of Medicine Office of Research prior to submission of finalized files to BIA.
Key points regarding recharge activities:
- Recharge activities must operate on a break-even basis.
- Recharge facilities that are expected to generate less than $50,000 recharge revenue per year are approved by the Dean/Vice Provost/Vice Chancellor. Please submit a copy of the recharge calculation worksheet and any questions regarding BIA's recharge rate packet to recharge@ucdavis.edu.
- School of Medicine department must submit updated forms eleven months after recharge rate approval to Carmen Ho (carho@ucdavis.edu) for review and approval for the following year along with an updated MOU with the respective department to ensure the facility is breaking even and no significant changes have occurred.
- Once every three years, the Recharge Group must review activities that (1) involve mandated goods or services that generate more than $50,000 in recharge revenue, or (2) generate more than $200,000 in annual federal recharge revenue. Normally, the latter is referred to the Federal Recharge Group for review.
- Recharge facilities that are expected to generate less than $50,000 recharge revenue per year then the office of the Dean/Vice Provost/Vice Chancellor must submit the proposal to BIA for approval.
Overview and useful information from UC Davis BIA for recharge rate development:
Recharge Operations - Rate Proposals and Modifications