Continuing a partnership that began in 2009, King’s Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre in London and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) are working together on joint opportunities for collaboration in areas such as student and faculty exchange, online education and training, curriculum development, cooperative research, and open data exchange.
As part of this effort, the two institutions recently announced the launch of the UCSF/King’s Health Partners Faculty Fellowship Travel Grant, a faculty exchange program designed to further medical research and research-enabling collaborations. The award will support clinical and translational investigators involved in seeking new methods to advance research, fostering collaborations with long-term potential, and other related activities.
It’s great that we can now offer this opportunity to more researchers.Clay Johnston, MD, PhD, director of CTSI
“We know from the few UCSF faculty who have spent time at King’s Health Partners in the past that the exchange can be rejuvenating and lead to more creative research, and the same is certainly true for their faculty coming here,” said S. Claiborne “Clay” Johnston, MD, PhD, associate vice chancellor of research and director of UCSF’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI). “It’s great that we can now offer this opportunity to more researchers.”
The fellowships, which will include two participants from each institution annually, are open to faculty from UCSF and its Affiliates. Awardees will receive funding of up to $30,000 for a stay of at least three months. The first two UCSF fellows will be supported by CTSI, and future support will come from the office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost.
The application deadline for the Faculty Fellowship Travel awards, offered through UCSF’s Research Allocation Program (RAP), is September 24, 2012. Fellowships must be completed within a year of the award date. Apply now or learn more.
A Partnership Built on Shared Goals
UCSF and King’s College are already working to discover synergies in basic medical research and clinical translational research where both institutions would benefit, and in so doing, promote and extend science education.
“We share many of the same priorities with our colleagues at UCSF and this effort will consolidate existing areas of strong collaboration across our two institutions,” said Professor Simon Lovestone, director of research at King’s Health Partners. “We already work closely across many research areas, especially genetics, immunology, neurology, global health, diabetes, and HIV, and I hope this partnership fosters new links that lead to joint research projects and grant applications.”
Other areas in which UCSF and King’s College are currently cooperating include:
- Open data collaboration: a concentrated effort to connect multiple networks and demonstrate proof of concept;
- Joint symposia, particularly in the areas of oncology, genetics, dementia, and immunology;
- Online education: sharing resources and blending online and local learning in courses such as Design in Clinical Research.
King’s Health Partners brings together a world leading research led university (King’s College London) and three successful National Health Service Foundation Trusts (Guy’s and St Thomas’, King’s College Hospital, and South London and Maudsley). Learn more at www.kingshealthpartners.org.
UCSF's CTSI is a member of the Clinical and Translational Science Awards network funded through the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences at the National Institutes of Health (Grant Number UL1 TR000004). Under the banner of Accelerating Research to Improve Health, CTSI provides a wide range of services for researchers, and promotes online collaboration and networking tools such as UCSF Profiles.