Pilot Awards

CTSI Pilot Awards seek to advance clinical and translational research at UCSF by providing funding resources to catalyze research and activities in clinical and translational sciences.

The program funds novel and outstanding clinical and translational research, including research focusing on children, the elderly, and those socially and medically vulnerable.  It also facilitates and supports the formation and development of multidisciplinary research teams and supports under-represented minority clinical and translational researchers in conducting cutting-edge clinical and translational science.


Family Support

Family Support Award is intended to fill a gap in support for junior faculty with significant family caregiving responsibilities by providing funding for supplemental research support.

Prevention and Treatment of Opioid Use Disorders

The Pilot Award for Prevention and Treatment of Opioid Use Disorders is intended to support projects focused on pursuing the research on prevention and treatment of opioid use disorders. We are particularly interested in projects that will generate preliminary data needed to develop clinical trials or population-based community interventions. Projects should relevant to these broad areas related to opioids: pain management, standard of care and opioid prescribing patterns; improving prevention or treatment of opioid misuse and addiction; and the intersection of pain and addiction.


Junior Investigators

Pilot for Junior Investigators in Basic and Clinical / Translational Sciences awards are intended to support a wide range of biomedical research, including fundamental basic science, clinical / translational science, health policy and social science, digital health (incorporating the use of mobile technology) and population science.


​Under-represented Academics

Under-represented Faculty & Senior Fellows in Clinical and Translational Research Awards provide support to researchers from historically disenfranchised racial and ethnic groups that are under-represented in health sciences, or from economically or educationally disadvantaged backgrounds, in an effort to encourage these researchers to remain in academia for their career and thus increase the diversity of UCSF faculty.


Research into Racism Impacting Black People

The Pilot for Research on Racism Impacting Black People awards are intended to support research that (1) examines racist actions, ideas, and policies that have led to institutional anti-Black racism at biomedical research institutions like UCSF, and (2) pursue action-based aims focused on ending systemic and institutional racism in all its forms. We expect that this research will bring new knowledge on important topics related to confronting racism at the societal, community, and institutional level: at the university, in policing, criminal justice, and beyond. We are particularly interested in supporting projects whose aims include implementation strategies at an institutional or systems level or that would significantly inform policy change.