Dear Colleagues,
In today’s top note message, I want to focus my comments here at home. Over the past eight months, we have taken actions to ensure the mission excellence of UCSF’s research enterprise in response to the Trump administration’s federal research policies. In order to safeguard our mission, people, and values from the unprecedented financial risk these policy changes pose, we have had to make some very tough decisions.
On Sept. 2, the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost (EVCP) Office implemented staffing reductions across several of its units, and the Office of Research was substantively impacted by this action, with 18 positions eliminated. These staffing reductions were due to the reality of lower federal reimbursement for research conducted at UCSF. As a result, research teams may notice changes in their Office of Research administrative points of contact.
These 18 employees represented positions across the Office of Research, from front-line analysts to leadership. Reductions were made with attention to UCSF’s principles of community and our PRIDE values and involved unit-level leadership in the determination. I want to express my deep gratitude to the Office of Research staff for their continued professionalism and dedication during this time.
This staffing reduction may create concern about how Office of Research service levels will be impacted. My staff is working to assess how changes may affect service and find solutions. This will be an ongoing process, and we will provide updates as soon as we have them.
If you are a PI, I ask that you partner with us by recommitting to the timely and proactive notification and provision of complete proposal information, per OSR’s notification guidelines, to your grants officer or grants specialist. I also ask for your grace and understanding as our teams adapt to these transitions.
Please contact the Office of Research at [email protected] if you have questions or concerns about the above. Your feedback is always welcome.
Yours,
Hal
Harold R. Collard, MD, MS
Vice Chancellor for Research
Professor of Medicine and Health Policy