Dear colleagues,

Our department continues to invest deeply in strengthening our research mission and we want to ensure that you have access to the information and resources that support your success in the UCLA Department of Medicine. In addition to our weekly research updates, we maintain a dedicated DoM Research Resources website on the department’s intranet which houses important tools, an archive of past research updates, and a growing video library featuring department leaders discussing key topics in research operations. Bookmark the page and visit regularly to make use of these resources.

In this week’s update, we share the latest developments presented at this month’s Research Administration Forum, hosted by the UCLA Office of Research Administration. To view the full presentation from the December meeting, please click here.


Employee Compensation Compliance (ECC) Certifications are Due December 23

The first certification cycle in the new Employee Compensation Compliance (ECC) system is underway. The new ECC provides each PI with a consolidated statement per grant account, listing all individuals paid from that account during the reporting period. The first certification in the new ECC is due December 23, 2025 for the period of April 1, 2025 through September 30, 2025. PI’s are encouraged to work with their research administrators to ensure all their ECC’s are accurately certified prior to the imminent deadline. Reminder emails went out on Tuesday, December 9th to PI’s and concurrently to the fund managers with open ECC reports. Please make sure that your fund manager has reviewed these before you sign off.


National Institutes of Health (NIH) Research Security Training Requirements

Earlier this year, we shared that as of October 1, all senior key personnel (SKP) must complete research security training before submitting Other Support disclosures to the NIH. If you have not completed the training, please do so as soon as possible. Originally this was going to be required in January 2026, but the deadline was just extended to May 25, 2026. As of that date, NIH will require all SKP’s to complete research security training within 12 months prior to application submission. After this date, Just in Time (JIT) submissions, research performance progress reports (RPPR), and grant applications that require Other Support disclosures will not be accepted unless the training has been completed. If you have not completed the training, please make this a priority by completing the UCOP Research Security Training in CITI.


NIH Common Forms and SCIENCV Required Effective January 25, 2026

Beginning January 25, 2026, the NIH will require the use of the new NIH Common Forms for Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support, generated through SciENcv. PI’s will be required to integrate their ORCID ID into the forms. The requirement will apply to all JIT submissions, RPPRs, and prior approval requests submitted on or after January 25th. Preview versions of the forms are available below, along with these FAQs from the NIH.

Delegates may assist in preparing entries in SciENcv, but only investigators can certify their final documents. The NIH anticipates releasing the final form templates and instructions the week of December 15, 2025. For detailed information about the rollout of this initiative, please refer to the timeline in the research administration forum PowerPoint. OCGA has developed a mechanism to help PI’s easily download other support data directly from the PI Portal that can be uploaded directly into SciENcv. This process is nicely described in the RAF forum slides referenced above.


Emergency Modifications to NIH Peer Review Meetings

Between October 1, 2025 and November 14, 2025, more than 370 peer review meetings were cancelled, affecting 11,000 reviewers and more than 24,000 applications. To manage the backlog, emergency modifications are being made to peer review in the January to May 2026 review cycle, including reducing the number of applications discussed in meetings, simplifying summary statements, releasing scores within three business days of the review meeting, and issuing summary statements in the same council round. This notice also describes a process by which competitive grants that are not discussed could potentially still be considered for funding, based upon high programmatic priorities. We encourage you to read this most recent notice from the NIH, in its entirety.

As always, we are here to support our research community as federal requirements continue to evolve. We will keep you informed of new guidance with our research administration teams available to assist with these upcoming changes. Thank you for your continued partnership and dedication to advancing our research mission.

Sincerely,

E. Dale Abel, MD, PhD
William S. Adams Distinguished Professor of Medicine
Chair and Executive Medical Director
Department of Medicine
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and UCLA Health

Judith S. Currier, MD
Professor of Medicine
Executive Vice Chair for Research, Department of Medicine
Sue and Michael Steinberg Chair in Global AIDS Research

Gregory A. Brent, MD
Senior Executive Academic Vice Chair
Department of Medicine
Professor of Medicine and Physiology
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA