Collaborating with School of Medicine
The Reaching Across the Causeway (RAC) Awards program, now in its third year, is a joint initiative led by the Vice Dean for Research of the School of Medicine (SOM), the Associate Dean of Research of the School of Veterinary Medicine (SVM), with contributions from the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the UC Davis Clinical and Translational Science Center.
This unique program brings together the strength of the UC Davis Schools of Veterinary Medicine and Medicine (majority who are based across the Yolo Causeway) to address complex health issues and reflects the ability to conduct groundbreaking research in our nationally ranked medical and veterinary schools, located less than 20 miles from each other across the Yolo Causeway.
The RAC awards are designed to spark innovative, cross-disciplinary collaborations between the School of Medicine and the School of Veterinary Medicine. We are seeking bold, high-impact ideas that will open new avenues of investigation and significantly enhance the potential for future extramural research funding.
The awards, up to $50k per team, support the planning, preparation, and submission of team-based research proposals. Funding may be used for staff or graduate student support, as well as expenses related to developing competitive extramural grant applications.
By bridging disciplines and schools, this program aims to address today’s most complex scientific challenges through collaborative, team-based science.
- 2025 Awardees
- “Evaluation of LLP2A/LXW7-Modified Collagen Scaffolds for Spinal Defect Repair in Dogs with Naturally Occurring Spina Bifida.” by Ji-Hey Lim (SVM: Surgical & Radiological Sciences) with Aijun Wang (SOM: Surgery)
“Determining the Role of Mitochondria Transfer in Tumor -Fibroblast Stromal Interaction and Metastasis to Bone—A Multi-Omics Approach.” by Paramita Ghosh (SOM: Urologic Surgery) and Damian Genetos (SVM: Anatomy, Physiology and Cell biology) with Gabriela Loots (SOM: Orthopedic Surgery)
“Establishing a Canine Cortical Organoid Model for Epilepsy Research through SCN1A Knockout.” by Amir Kol (SVM: Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology) with Roy Ben-Shalom (SOM: Neurology) for
“Impact of Ambient Wildfire Smoke PM2.5 Exposure on Antibiotic Use in Pediatric Populations.” by Lisa Miller (SVM: Anatomy, Physiology and Cell biology) with Michael Kleeman (College of Engineering: Civil & Environmental Engineering), Irene Cortes Puch (SOM: Internal Medicine) and Gabrielle Liu (SOM: Internal Medicine)
“TET1 Activity and VOC Production in Asthmatic Airways Following Wildfire PM2.5 Exposure.” by Nicholas Kenyon (SOM: Internal Medicine) and Hong Ji (SVM: Anatomy, Physiology and Cell biology)
“Advancing Canine Bladder Cancer Treatment: Integrating Neem-Derived Therapeutics with 3D Tumor Modeling for Precision Oncology.” by Christopher Lucchesi (SOM: Urologic Surgery) with William Culp (SVM: Surgical & Radiological Sciences), Neelu Batra (SOM: Urological Surgery), Robert Rebhun (SVM: Surgical & Radiological Sciences) and Paramita Ghosh (SOM: Urological Surgery) - 2024 Awardees
- "Wnt/PCP signaling contribution to glioblastoma malignancy" by Kermit Carraway (SOM: Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine) with James Angelastro (SVM: Molecular Biosciences)
"Advancing NK Cell Cancer Therapy through Nanotechnology and Non-Invasive Imaging" by Jinhwan Kim (SOM: Surgery) with Jessica Lawrence (SVM: Surgical & Radiological Sciences)
"Characterization of Canine Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) Leading to Treatment" by Resmi Ravindra (SOM: Pathology and Laboratory Medicine) with William Culp (SVM: Surgical and Radiological Sciences), Yu-Jui Yvonne Wan (SOM: Pathology and Laboratory Medicine), Imran Khan (SOM: Pathology and Laboratory Medicine) and Dongguang Wei (SOM: Pathology and Laboratory Medicine)
"Preventing Invasive Candidiasis by Restoring Gut Epithelial Hypoxia" by Hannah Savage (SVM: Pathology, Microbiology & Immunology) with Derek Bays (SOM: Internal Medicine - Infectious Diseases)
"Advancing Optogenetic Therapy for Sudden Acquired Retinal Degeneration Syndrome (SARDS)" by Sara Thomasy (SVM: Surgical & Radiological Sciences) with Ala Moshiri (SOM: Ophthalmology), Soohyun Kim (SVM: Surgical & Radiological Sciences) and Leah Byrne (University of Pittsburgh: Ophthalmology)
"Improving the Non-invasive Diagnosis and Monitoring of Copper Associated Hepatopathy in Dogs and Humans" by Tarini Ullal (SVM: Medicine and Epidemiology) with Valentina Medici (SOM: Internal Medicine) and Marie Heffern (LS: Chemistry) - 2023 Awardees
- “Neuronal STAT3 knock-out to mitigate OP inhibitor-induced seizures” by Amy Brooks-Kayal (SOM: Neurology) with Pamela Lein (SVM: Molecular Biosciences)
“Placental-derived natural killer (NK) cells to target high grade gliomas in dogs” by Robert Canter (SOM: Surgery) with Christine Toedebusch (SVM: Surgical and Radiological Sciences) Abhijit Chaudhari (SOM: Radiology) and Orin Bloch (SOM: Neurological Surgery)
“Randomized controlled clinical trial to gauge the effects of dietary erythritol on platelet reactivity and vascular inflammation” by Kimber Stanhope (SVM: Molecular Biosciences) with Enkhmaa Byambaa (SOM: Internal Medicine), Scott Simon (Biomedical Engineering), Ronald Li (SVM: Surgical and Radiological Sciences), Valentina Medici (SOM: Gastroenterology and Hepatology) and Oliver Fiehn (SOM: Clinical Medicine)
"Bacterial modulation of immunity within the female reproductive tract" by Stephen McSorley (SVM: Anatomy, Physiology and Cell biology) with Renee Tsolis (SOM: Medical Microbiology & Immunology)
Annual Symposium
Every year SVM and SOM rotate in hosting an annual symposium bringing together RAC awardees in addition to new faculty and other guest speakers from our schools. This event provides an opportunity for "cross-causeway" networking and engagement.
Next event:
October 8, 2025
UC Davis Conference Center
8:30am - 6:00pm (Wine/Appetizers 4-6pm)
Registration opens soon
Contact:
Jose Franco
Research and Strategic Partnership Coordinator
Office of Research and Graduate Education
jlfranco@ucdavis.edu