Graduate students (25% or more appointment), postdocs, and fellows from full-membership ImmunoX labs who have a dependent child are eligible for the Bakar Trainee Momentum Program. This program is not based on financial need. Applicants must be associated with an ImmunoX member lab (check here). The applicant’s dependent child must be an infant or within pre-school age range (≤ 5 years old). The program may be applied towards supplemental technical assistance and in future emergency childcare and other programs are anticipated.

At this time, eligible applicants can apply for supplemental technical assistance:

Supplemental Technical Assistance

This option provides supplemental funding for up to 6 months of salary for a maximum of $25,000 in salary compensation to help cover additional personnel (e.g. research technician or equivalent staff) to sustain the applicant’s research while on family leave. The applicant’s principal investigator is required to be a co-applicant on the RFA, provide a letter of support, and agree to co-supervise the research technician during the applicant’s leave. Applicants who are pregnant should submit an RFA as soon as possible, including a detailed proposal for the research technician or equivalent staff.

Trainees enrolled in the program on a “first-come, first-served” basis and will be able to access services as long as funding lasts. If program use exceeds funds available, the program may be suspended.

We are aware that the supplemental technical assistance option is not “one-size-fits-all” and that customized assistance in justifiable situations could be made available to an eligible applicant. In the near future, we hope to expand the number of support options to include child care assistance and back-up child care support. While we seek to expand support options with UCSF leadership, we would like to hear from you about other potential options. If you would like to propose alternative options, please contact our ImmunoX Chief Strategist, Vincent Chan (vincent.chan@ucsf.edu).

Applications are evaluated on a rolling basis with 3-4 awards available per year. Please fill out this online application and submit all of the additional documents to apply.

The ImmunoX Community Committee is responsible for reviewing and selecting applications for funding. The primary criteria for evaluation of applications include but are not limited to:

• Description of applicant’s need for funding. Priority will be given to trainees taking leave following birth/adoption of an infant. However, support may be considered in certain circumstances for those with older preschool-aged children.
• Description of how the supplemental technical assistance will promote applicant’s scientific goals, including a detailed plan for securing technician support and ensuring that this will benefit the trainee (e.g. scope of work to be completed, skill set of the technician, plan for PI oversight).
• Budget and budget justification in support of requested costs.
• Letter of Support from PI with their agreement to supervise the research technician during the applicant’s leave period. Please include the name and title of person providing technical support or plan/timeline for new hire.

Prospective applicants are encouraged to contact our ImmunoX Chief Strategy Officer, Vincent Chan (vincent.chan@ucsf.edu) and the ImmunoX Community Manager, Lily Ortiz (lily.ortiz@ucsf.edu).