About

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The UCSF-Stanford Center of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation (CERSI) is a joint effort among members of a world-class team of highly collaborative scientists at UC San Francisco, Stanford University, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The two academic institutions and the FDA work together on projects that promote regulatory science—including innovative research, education, and scientific exchange—in partnership with foundations and commercial entities interested in the development of FDA-approved medical products. The center collaborates, in particular, with the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and high-tech industries of the San Francisco Bay Area and the West Coast.

Aims

The center aims to meet scientific challenges in issues of critical importance in the development and evaluation of FDA-regulated products and at a time of rapid technological progress by:

• Advancing regulatory science through the development and application of quantitative and systems-level methodologies.
• Creating a West Coast presence of the FDA to enhance communication between academia and the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and high–tech industries, with the FDA, about regulatory science.

Focus areas

The UCSF-Stanford CERSI builds on the enormous strengths of UCSF and Stanford University in the quantitative sciences and pharmacology to provide novel education, exchange, and collaborative research programs that focus on three key FDA priority areas as described in the FDA Strategic Plan for Regulatory Sciences:

1. Improving preclinical safety and efficacy tests
2. Improving clinical trials and evaluation
3. Harnessing diverse data sets through information sciences to accelerate and improve new drug development

Collaboration: interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary

The UCSF-Stanford CERSI is the first regulatory science center on the West Coast. Due to its unique geographic location and proximity to the San Francisco Bay Area pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and high-tech industries it naturally creates a liaison among the FDA, academia, and industry, supporting a collaborative environment within—as well as beyond—the two institutions.

The center is uniquely positioned to foster strong interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary collaborations through its diverse array of schools, departments, and institutes. Both universities bring their individual academic and research strengths to the center.

UCSF

• School of Pharmacy, which is ranked top nationwide in National Institutes of Health (NIH) research funding among pharmacy schools since 1979 and for its Doctor of Pharmacy degree program
• School of Medicine
• School of Dentistry
• School of Nursing
• Novel Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, which is a joint department between the School of Pharmacy and the School of Medicine.
• Well-established Clinical and Translational Science Institute funded by the NIH
• California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences-UCSF (QB3-UCSF)

Stanford University

• Large efforts in medical devices and quantitative sciences through its School of Medicine and School of Engineering
• Law School
• School of Business
• Strong Department of Bioengineering
• NIH-funded Clinical and Translational Science Award

Both universities benefit from having their own medical centers and associated U.S. Veterans Affairs Medical Centers:

• UCSF Medical Center and Veterans Affairs Medical Center, San Francisco
• Stanford University Medical Center and Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Palo Alto

FDA CERSI Lecture Series

Lectures are presented by scientists from CERSI Academic Institutions

• FDA CERSI Lecture Series Schedule

FDA CERSI Workshops

Workshops are held collaboratively between FDA and CERSI Academic Institutions

• FDA CERSI Workshop Schedule

Related links

• University of Maryland CERSI
• Johns Hopkins University CERSI
• Yale University-Mayo Clinic CERSI
• UCSF-Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science
• FDA CERSI

Beginnings

The UCSF-Stanford CERSI was launched in April 2014. See the public announcement.

Center leadership

	Kathy Giacomini, PhD, BSPharm Co-Principal Investigator, UCSF-Stanford CERSI Professor, Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences UCSF Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine
	Russ B. Altman, MD, PhD Co-Principal Investigator, UCSF-Stanford CERSI Professor, Departments of Bioengineering, Genetics, Medicine and Computer Science Stanford University, Schools of Engineering and Medicine
	Lawrence Lin, PhD Executive Director, UCSF-Stanford CERSI Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences UCSF Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine
	Nathan Dang, PharmD Program Coordinator, UCSF-Stanford CERSI Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences UCSF Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine
	Mark Dresser, PhD Educational Program Director, UCSF-Stanford CERSI UCSF Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine

Scientific Advisory Board