REACH

Meet the Team

The UC San Diego REACH Center unites leading clinician-scientists across the University of California system to train and mentor the next generation of complementary and integrative health (CIH) researchers. Our team spans UC San Diego, UC Davis, UCSF, UCLA, and UC Irvine, creating a powerful, interdisciplinary network for advancing whole person health science.

Leadership

REACH Members

Partners

REACH Partners

The UCSD-REACH Center thrives through collaboration. Our partner institutions bring diverse expertise, resources, perspectives, and communities that strengthen our shared mission to advance whole person health research and training.

Together, we:

  • Co-develop innovative pilot projects and research studies

  • Share expertise, tools, and training opportunities

  • Build multi-site collaborations that extend the impact of whole person health science

  • Create pathways for scholars, clinicians, and community members to engage in research

This collective effort ensures that discoveries made within REACH are more rigorous, inclusive, and impactful. By working hand-in-hand with our partners, we accelerate translation from scientific insight to real-world application—improving health outcomes and shaping the future of integrative care.

University of St. Augustine for Health Science

Program Director

James Mathews, PT, DPT, PhD

Research Director

Ed Bezkor, PT, DPT, PHD

New York Institute of Technology

Program Director

Nicole Wadsworth, DO

Research Director

Jordan Keys, DO

Pacific College of Health and Science

Program Director

Malcolm Youngren

Research Directors

April Paniagua, Deborah Reuss

National University of Natural Medicine

Program Director

Melanie Henriksen, ND, LAc, CNM

Research Directors

Heather Zwickey, PhD

Touro University California

Program Director

Tami Hendriksz DO, FACOP, FAAP

Research Director

Nathalie Bergeron, PhD

Southern California University of Health Sciences

Program Director

John Scaringe, DC, EdD

Research Director

Steffany Moonaz, PhD, C-IAYT

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Pilot Grants

About the UCSD REACH Pilot Grant Program

The UCSD REACH Center for Translational Science in Whole Person Health is pleased to announce its 2025 Pilot Grant Program.

Key Details

  • Application Deadline: July 1, 2025

  • Funding Start Date: August 2025

  • Award Amounts: Up to $25,000 (smaller requests are more likely to be funded)

  • Funding Period: 1 year

  • Indirect Costs: Not allowable

Application Requirements

  1. Research plan (up to 4 pages) addressing Importance, Rigor & Feasibility, and Expertise & Resources

  2. NIH-formatted biosketches for all investigators (≤5 pages each) specifying contributions to project aims

  3. Detailed budget and justification (direct costs only)

  4. 1-page future funding strategy statement

Review Criteria

  • Applications will be reviewed in alignment with NIH standards, with emphasis on:

    • Importance of the Research

    • Rigor & Feasibility

    • Expertise & Resources

Eligibility

  • Projects must be relevant to complementary and integrative health (CIH).

  • Applications must include a clear plan for how results will support future grant submissions, including target NOFOs and agencies.

  • A timeline with specific milestones is required.

 

Funding Priorities

  • Participate in Project Ideation & Generation sessions for early peer review and feedback

  • Incorporate UCSD Translational Science resources (lab services, biomarker measurement, imaging, etc.)

  • Utilize UCSD REACH resources (biostatistics, research administration, CIH faculty)

  • Include collaboration with UCSD REACH partnering institutions

Additional Information

  • Pilot grants are not eligible for UCSD REACH mock grant review.

  • Applicants are strongly encouraged to present proposals during Ideation & Generation sessions (schedule at least 1 month before submission).

     

 

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REACH Home

Welcome to UCSD REACH

The NCCIH-supported University of California San Diego REACH Center for Translational Science in Whole Person Health (UCSD REACH) unites integrative health institutions to expand research capacity, develop clinician-scientist research careers, share knowledge, and advance the field of whole-person, integrative health.

Our Mission

The UCSD REACH Center builds research capacity within complementary and integrative health (CIH) institutions to accelerate the translation of complementary and integrative health discoveries into real-world practices that improve physical, mental, social, and spiritual health.

Through strategic partnerships, REACH connects academic researchers, clinician-scientists, integrative medicine specialists, and research support staff to study how whole person health approaches can prevent disease and enhance quality of life.

Expand Research Capacity

CIH Partners gain access to UC San Diego’s scientific infrastructure, data resources, mentorship, and more.

VIEW OUR PARTNERS

Foster Scholars & Mentorship

We train and support early-career faculty to become competitive translational scientists.

LEARN MORE

Support Pilot Projects & Proposals

We fund and guide pilot projects that evolve into impactful, externally funded studies on whole person health.

LEARN MORE

The REACH Network

Supported by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), REsearch Across Complementary and Integrative Health Institutions (REACH) is a national effort to strengthen research capacity and funding in complementary and integrative health. UC San Diego Centers for Integrative Health is honored to house one of three REACH Virtual Resource Centers, alongside the RAND Corporation and the University of Pittsburgh.

CIH Partners

The UCSD REACH Center advances research and training through partnerships between UC San Diego and accredited complementary and integrative health (CIH) institutions — including schools of acupuncture, physical therapy, music therapy, osteopathic manual medicine, and naturopathic medicine. By providing research training and career development opportunities, REACH aims to increase the number and quality of scientists trained to conduct rigorous, cutting-edge research on CIH practices, and to foster interdisciplinary collaborations and partnerships. This collaboration helps fulfill a distinct need to support the development of clinician-scientists trained in CIH practices to pursue clinically informed research careers. See CIH Partners section for a current list of institutional partners and how to join.

🌏
East Asian Medicine
Medicinal practices from eastern cultures

🪡
Acupuncture
Traditional Chinese Medicine approaches

💆
Mind & Body
Mindfulness, yoga, massage, and more

🎵
Music Therapy
Sound-based healing and neuroscience

🦴
Osteopathic Manual Medicine
Structural medicine and holistic care

🌿
Naturopathic Medicine
Botanical and natural therapeutics

🏃
Physical Therapy
Movement science and rehabilitation

🦴
Chiropractic TherapyManual therapies

Get involved

Interested in advancing your organization's research capacity? Looking for opportunities to get your integrative medicine research funded? Access a network of research experts dedicated advancing integrative health and supporting your work.

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About REACH

The UC San Diego REACH Center for Translational Science on Whole Person Health (UCSD-REACH) is designed to close the gap between complementary and integrative health practice and modern biomedical science.

Bidirectional Innovation

We pair the experiential knowledge of CIH practitioners with UC San Diego’s advanced translational science resources to generate research questions rooted in practice and transformed into rigorous science.

National Leadership

Home to one of the largest integrative medicine research endowments and a $40M Krupp Fund for pilot studies, UC San Diego brings unmatched infrastructure, mentorship, and collaborative reach across the University of California system.

Equity & Inclusion

UCSD-REACH is dedicated to uplifting diverse voices, ensuring that research in whole person health authentically represents all cultural traditions and communities served by UCSD and our Partnering Institutions.

What We Offer to Partnering Institutions

At UCSD-REACH, our mission is to strengthen the research capacity of complementary and integrative health (CIH) institutions and elevate whole person health science nationwide. We go beyond individual training to provide systemic, long-lasting benefits to our partner institutions.

UCSD-REACH serves as a hub for building CIH research capacity. Partner institutions gain:

 

UCSD-REACH connects CIH institutions with the resources of UC San Diego and the broader UC system, as well as with national REACH Centers. Together, we create a powerful community of practice—fostering innovation, shared learning, and collaborative research across disciplines.

We work hand-in-hand with CIH colleges and universities to design customized capacity-building roadmaps. From administrative infrastructure to research culture development, our support equips institutions with the tools needed to grow sustainable research programs.

Partner institutions gain entry to UC San Diego’s state-of-the-art laboratories, advanced data platforms, and the NIH-funded HEAL-PURPOSE virtual network. This access accelerates the path from research ideas to impactful discoveries.

We are dedicated to uplifting diverse voices and honoring all healing traditions that inform CIH practices. Partnering institutions receive support in ways to allow all communities their institutions serve to participate in their research efforts from idea generation through completion and dissemination of findings

Our goal is to ensure that research capacity doesn’t end with individual training. By embedding research infrastructure, fostering collaborations, and creating pipelines of clinician-scientists, UCSD-REACH helps institutions establish lasting contributions to whole person health science.

The REACH Center Network

UCSD-REACH is part of a growing network of NCCIH-funded REACH Centers across the country. Each focuses on strengthening CIH research from a different angle:

  • RAND REACH Center: Specializes in health services and implementation research.

  • UCSD REACH Center: Focuses on translational science, bridging practice-based insights with laboratory and clinical discoveries.

Together, these Centers collaborate rather than compete—aligning expertise to maximize opportunities for partnering institutions and to advance the national whole person health research agenda.

 

Scholars Training Program

The UC San Diego REACH Center's Scholars training program is designed to cultivate innovative, multi-disciplinary clinical researchers specializing in complementary and integrative health with an emphasis on transactional science skills.

This 2-year training program for faculty at partnering complementary and integrative health institutions will provide resources to support research training activities, mentorship, collaborations, and opportunities for pilot grant funding. 

REACH Scholars

Program Framework

Two-Year Training Program

Scholars participate in a two-year UCSD REACH curriculum that includes three stackable micro-courses in translational science, clinical and CIH research.

Collaboration & Ideation

Engage with a diverse network of experts across many integrative health disciplines. Scholars will participate in Research Interest Groups and Ideation Sessions designed to foster collaboration, spark innovative ideas, and support the development of competitive grant proposals. 

Hybrid Curriculum

Flexible micro-credential learning in translational clinical integrative health research is tailored to individual needs.

Mentorship 

Scholars choose a mentor from a network of expert researchers, to guide them in their journey, from idea generation and research plan development to grant development and research implementation. Mentors enable access to state-of-the-art laboratories, and comprehensive data resources to support innovative research.

Funding & Resources

Explore opportunities and get support applying for UC San Diego REACH pilot grants (~$20K each), KEF grants (up to $100K), foundation grants, and ultimately federal awards. 

Dissemination & Impact

Dedicated support will be available to support Scholars to produce manuscripts and presentations for publishing findings in high-impact peer-reviewed journals and presenting at prominent national and international conferences.

How to Apply

Application Requirements

In order to submit an application, the scholar must:

  • Be faculty at an institution of complementary or integrative health (such as schools of acupuncture, chiropractic, osteopathy, naturopathy, physical therapy, music and art therapy, etc);
  • Intend to pursue research in complementary and integrative health including collaborative grants/funding proposals;
  • Be nominated by leadership (research director, dean, vice-chancellor, president, etc);
  • Commit 20% of their full-time effort to this 2-year training and research career development program.

Scholar Requirements

To nominate a scholar, please submit:

  1. A cover letter by the scholar covering research interests, goals as a REACH scholar, potential mentors of interest from the list above, and summary of research activities to date
  2. The scholar's curriculum vitae
  3. A letter of support from the nominating leadership, including a statement of commitment of 20% effort for two years.

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