Training & Education

Lecture and grant development series featuring local, national and international scholars conducting state-of-the-art D&I research. ISS typically includes an investigator presentation followed by interactive discussion where researchers of all levels can share feedback, ask questions, and discuss ideas. Email DISC at disc@health.ucsd.edu for more info.

ISS is typically held every 2 months at CASRC offices at Rady Children's Plaza, Health Services Room 160B.


View ISS archives

DISC will soon be offering mentor and mentee opportunities for D&I students, trainees, and investigators. More details to come.

A key objective of the UC San Diego ACTRI DISC is to support D&I training, mentorship and research advancement of our DISC community. The UC San Diego DISC will offer Training and Dissemination Awards for a limited number of awardees pursuing D&I education and/or research advancement opportunities.These awards (up to $1,000 each) are intended to support costs related to D&I training and dissemination including (but not limited to) participation in D&I conferences, courses or workshops and publication/presentation expenses. Read the full RFA and apply online.

DISC offers a graduate course annually in the Spring on D&I science co-taught by three members of the Executive Leadership Team, Dissemination and Implementation Science in Health: An Introduction (FPM 291). This course focuses on disseminating and scaling up health interventions in real-world settings. Interactive didactic sessions and guest lectures on implementation of research principles, approaches, and methods. Will design a proposal to implement or scale-up a clinical or public health intervention.

Borsika Rabin is currently teaching Dissemination and Implementation, Policy, and Health Services in Mental Health (FMPH 428). This course will use Dissemination and Implementation Science to address the gap between promising research results for mental health and their successful translation into improved individual, community, and population health.

DISC currently offers undergraduate internships for course credit through the UC San Diego Family Medicine and Public Health Department (Course Number: FMPH199 and FMPH198). E-mail DISC Manager, Clare Viglione, for application instructions at cviglione@health.ucsd.edu. Read the full internship description.

Current D&I Science Center Interns:

Jillian Abasta Jillian Abasta is a second-year majoring in Clinical Psychology at UCSD. She is interested in a career in mental health research, specifically investigating effective treatments and preventative measures for underserved individuals with mental health challenges. She is enthusiastic about utilizing D&I methods in her future research to ensure interventions are readily accessible and attainable to those in need.

Melanie Aguilar Melanie Aguilar is a second-year double majoring in Psychology and Global Health at UCSD. She is passionate about implementing evidence-based community health interventions and advocating for reformative and comprehensive health policy. Melanie is interested in D&I research because of its ability to provide evidence-based programs and implementation science as basis for policy reform.

Reyna Bottone Reyna is a second-year majoring in Clinical Psychology and double-minoring in Political Science and Health Care: Social Issues. She is interested in how mental health and public health relate to one another, and is excited to learn about how D&I research can be applied to health practices and improve health care. She is passionate about providing adequate access to both mental health and general health services to underserved communities.

Rohini Bulusu Rohini is a second-year majoring in Public Health with a Concentration in Medical Sciences, as well as a minor in Health Care & Social Issues. She wants to pursue a career in medicine, while obtaining valuable D&I research experience regarding relevant public health issues to improve the overall healthcare outcomes, especially among vulnerable communities.

Maxwell Cain Maxwell Cain is a second-year majoring in Psychology and minoring in Finance at SDSU with the goal of getting a Ph.D. in school psychology. Maxwell is interested in D&I methods and research due to his passion for mental health care and its applications for effectively implementing intervention and treatment services in the education system.

Nicholas Lee Nicholas Lee is a fourth-year Human Biology Major and Psychology Minor at UCSD. Nicholas is interested in D&I Research because of his life goal of working as a Developmental Pediatric Orthopedic Surgeon, as he is especially passionate about working with disabled, underserved communities and improving their quality of healthcare.

Shannon Robinson Shannon is a third-year Public Health major with a specialization in Epidemiology and is minoring in Psychology. He is planning on working with addiction in the underserved populations, with a special interest in gambling addiction. He is interested in D&I research because it will add to his skill set and help him have an impact in the field of Public Health.

Nikki Schroeder Nikki is a recent graduate of UC Berkeley. She is passionate about learning new solutions to improve nutritious food accessibility in underserved communities and the role these solutions play in addressing public health inequities. She is most interested in how D&I research maximizes a community’s voice with regards to its own well-being by braiding the community’s personal goals with research findings and evidence.

DISC Internship Alumni

Sarah Bonomi

Jessica Ni

Kasey Yu