Success Stories

Chris Gurnett, MD, PhD and Jason Newland, MD, MEd awarded $5 million COVID-19 grant

Chris Gurnett, MD, PhD (left) and Jason Newland, MD, MEd

Congratulations to Chris Gurnett and Jason Newland who were awarded a $5 million Rapid Accelerating of Diagnostics in Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) grant to study the barriers and facilitators of SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic testing and effective communication strategies to encourage weekly testing of a vulnerable school community. The ICTS Precision Medicine Function Leadership team played a pivotal role in the development and review of this grant. 

In partnership with the Special School District of St. Louis County, the project will provide 52,000 SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic tests for a student population that is 49% African American along with their teachers and staff.  Additional NIH funding was recently awarded to this WU team to expand the study and testing to Kennedy Krieger Institute schools in Baltimore, and 4 underserved school districts in North St Louis County through two RADx-UP Return to School applications.