BUILDING INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH CAREERS IN WOMEN’S HEALTH (BIRCWH 2007)

The Office of Research on Women’s Health, along with nine NIH Institutes and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, supports fifteen new or renewed programs, listed below, for developing faculty Scholars in interdisciplinary women’s health research.  Sites recruit their own Scholars.  For specific information, contact the Program Director listed.

Colorado    Illinois    Louisiana    Maryland    Massachusetts    Minnesota
North Carolina    Oregon    Pennsylvania    South Carolina    Tennessee
Virginia    Wisconsin

Colorado

University of Colorado, Denver (no BIRCWH website)
Principal Investigator: Judith G. Regensteiner, Ph.D.
Email Address: Judy.Regensteiner@UCHSC.edu

The broad objective of the Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (BIRCWH) Program at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center (UCDHSC) is to develop and increase the pool of highly-qualified young scientists and clinician-investigators pursuing independent interdisciplinary scientific careers in women's health. The BIRCWH grant at UCDHSC focuses on three interrelated areas affecting women's health across the life span from preconception to aging! These areas are: (1) Pregnancy, fetal programming, and lactation, (2) Aging, cardiovascular (CV) disease, diabetes and obesity and (3) Women's cancers. These are fields in which the UCDHSC has strong interdisciplinary research programs, extending from molecular research into the basic mechanisms of disease through clinical studies to epidemiological analyses of etiology and outcomes.

 

Illinois

Northwestern University
Principal Investigator: J. Larry Jameson, M.D., Ph.D.
Email Address: ljameson@northwestern.edu

The a BIRCWH Program at Northwestern University will be used to develop a group of independent, tenure track scientists with backgrounds in clinical medicine or basic science disciplines whose research will address high priority areas relevant to women's health. We have identified five focus areas that have been historically strong within Northwestern and that are fundamental to the understanding and treatment of women's health and disease - differences in cardiovascular disease risk; ovarian biology; obstetrical and gynecological disorders; sex differences in sleep and rheumatology and osteoporosis. In order to develop expertise outside the Ob/Gyn specialty, faculty members who have interdisciplinary training in basic reproductive science and gender-specific disease research must be cultivated. Northwestern has a longstanding and rich tradition of interdisciplinary excellence in the reproductive sciences and in disorders that affect women. 

University of Illinois, Chicago 
Principal Investigator:  Stacie Geller, Ph.D.
Email Address:  Sgeller@uic.edu

The University of Illinois at Chicago's (UIC) BIRCWH program is a collaborative effort between the UlC's National Center of Excellence in Women's Health (CoE) and its six health colleges, including the colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Dentistry, Applied Health Sciences, and the School of Public Health. The overall purpose of this BIRCWH program is to institutionalize a generative scholar training program that will optimize the success of junior faculty in developing a substantive and sustained research program in women's health science. The program will contribute substantially to the development of a diverse multidisciplinary basic science, clinical, and community research work force through the interdisciplinary training, mentorship, and career development of junior investigators. These investigators will accelerate the translation of research findings into evidence-based policies and practices that improve the health of women and girls in the U.S. A diverse group of scholars are selected who focus on research in one of five areas in which UIC has particular strengths: reproductive health, midlife and aging, cancer in women, heart disease in women, and underserved populations. These areas encompass health and illness issues which are unique to women, more prevalent in women, or are different in women than in men. Health disparities are an underlying theme in much of the research on women's health, regardless of level of analysis, reflecting the diverse urban environment in which UIC is situated. UlC's conceptual approach to women's health and to research about women's health is to view women's health in terms of life stages and on a continuum. Work in women's health ranges from the molecular and cellular level to the community level; these levels are inter-related.

 

Louisiana

Tulane University
Principal Investigator: Jeanette H. Magnus M.D., Ph.D.
Email Address:  jmagnus@tulane.edu

The Tulane BIRCWH program is dedicated to promoting research and the transfer of findings to promote Women's Health by promoting research independence among junior researchers. In order to improve the quality and increase the quantity of Women's Health research, Tulane BIRCWH proposes to bridge the period between advanced training and research independence, as well as link professions, scientific disciplines, and areas of interest for selected scholars. The common theme running through out the various research areas is interdisciplinary research on cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and renal disease. The long-term objectives of the Tulane BIRCWH Program are to increase the number of skilled, independent interdisciplinary investigators with a focus on sex, gender and Women's Health research; promote, through the BIRCWH Program's illustration, the awareness of the need to ensure a strong pipeline when fostering independent researchers and the advantage of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary clinical and translational research efforts; promote collaborations with traditionally non-research focused entities; establish institutional and individual renown both nationally and internationally for the BIRCWH Program's findings on CVD and Women's Health and improve the cardiovascular health of Louisiana women across the lifespan, particularly African American women, by effectively training the next generation of conscientious, culturally competent and independent academic Women's Health researchers.

 

Maryland

University of Maryland, Baltimore
Principal Investigator:  Patricia Langenberg, Ph.D.
Email Address: plangenb@umaryland.edu

The University of Maryland's BIRCWH Program will continue our already highly successful program that was designed to foster interdisciplinary research in women's health among junior faculty Scholars working together with a team of senior faculty mentors to bridge the gap between specialized training and independent research careers. To achieve this goal, we have refined and adapted our current program to provide Scholars with in-depth career development training in three focused and interactive research theme areas: 1) Women's Health and the Brain; 2) The Aging Woman; and 3) Conditions Specific to Women. These theme areas build on existing strengths in research at UMB and are fertile ground for interdisciplinary basic science, translational, behavioral, clinical, epidemiological, and/or health services research. They are an extension of the theme areas offered in our current program allowing many of those mentors from the current program to participate and to allowing former Scholars opportunities to serve on mentor teams as coaches providing a support network for new Scholars. An important strength of our BIRCWH Program is that Scholars are able to draw from a multidisciplinary pool of senior faculty mentors for their mentor teams, but also to engage in research that is truly interdisciplinary. For example, a Scholar could access expertise in genetics, epidemiology and neurology to conduct clinical research on central nervous system contributions to the menopausal transition. Our former and current Scholars all have benefited immensely from our rich research environment and frequently cite the interdisciplinary nature of their training experience as an extraordinary advantage to their research.

 

Massachusetts

Boston Medical Center
Principal Investigator: Karen Freund, M.D., M.P.H.  
Email Address:  karen.freund@bmc.org

The Boston University (BU) Building Interdisciplinary Research Programs in Women's Health (BIRCWH) has demonstrated the ability to expand women's health research, and the number of excellent investigators in women's health. The BU BIRCWH will build upon the strengths of our existing program to recruit, select and train junior faculty in conducting clinical and health services research on women's health issues. The focus of research training and research will be addressing the needs of underserved, minority and elderly women. The long-term goals of the BU BIRCWH are to mentor an identified cadre of outstanding scholars and to provide them with the support and training needed for them to develop independent research careers in women's health. The BU BIRCWH will train selected clinician investigators in health services research, clinical research and clinical epidemiology to address a focus of important questions in the care of women:

1. Prevention research, with focus on behavioral, cultural and health service delivery influences on risk and lifestyle change, in addressing the prevention of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes.
2. Health services outcomes and effectiveness, especially investigating outcomes in ethnic and racial minority communities.
3. Addiction medicine, with particular focus on adverse outcomes of alcoholism, and interactions of gender, violence and HIV.
4. Issues of aging women, including the prevention of functional decline, diabetes and cardiovascular disease management, and cancer outcomes.

 

Minnesota

University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Principal Investigator: Nancy Raymond, M.D.
Email Address: raymo002@umn.edu

Three aspects of the University of Minnesota make it a unique environment for a BIRCWH program: 1) Based on substantial empirical research by one of our faculty members, we have developed a comprehensive model of mentoring that systematizes the vagaries of the interdisciplinary mentoring process. 2) With our six health science schools and other health-related departments, we have an extremely diverse institution. This diversity of disciplines reveals itself in our mentors, our course offerings, and the scholars themselves. There are few universities that can offer such a wide range of career development opportunities. 3) The University of Minnesota is a leader in women's health. Based on the work of the Deborah E. Powell Center of Excellence in Women's Health, we have a strategic plan related to women's health research, the goals of which are to: 1) build academic capacity; 2) increase interdisciplinary collaboration; 3) increase funding opportunities; and 4) increase the visibility of women's health research

 

North Carolina

Duke University
Principal Investigator: Eugene Z. Oddone, M.D.
Email Address:  Oddon001@mc.duke.edu

The Duke/North Carolina Central University (NCCU) BIRCWH Program is designed to develop highly skilled researchers investigating women's health issues, with a strong emphasis on interdisciplinary scholarship. The overarching theme for the Duke/NCCU Program will be women's health across the life-span, with areas of research interest that include maternal consequences of childbearing conditions that affect women, and health care utilization and disparities. A group of experienced core mentors will support the Scholars, and a distinguished Advisory Committee will provide oversight as well as regular evaluations of the Program and Scholar progress. The collaboration between Duke and NCCU, a Historically Black University, will strengthen our goal of training minority scholars. The Duke/NCCU BIRCWH Program is relevant to public health because it trains researchers whose work will lead to improved treatments for a wide range of conditions affecting women.

 

Oregon

Oregon Health & Science University
Principal Investigator: Lesley Hallick, Ph.D.
Email Address: hallick@ohsu.edu 

The goal of the Oregon BIRCWH program is to create a stimulating and nurturing environment for junior faculty to develop into leading Physician Scientists in Women's Health. Our program recognizes that research can modify the course of disease at one point in a woman's lifespan which will affect the rest of lifelong development and aging. The program pairs basic and clinical junior faculty scientists with established mentors from different backgrounds who have expertise in Women's Health Issues in order to enhance the scholar's research capabilities. The mix of career paths and backgrounds is integral to increasing collaboration and invigorating research in Women's Health across the lifespan. The extensive intellectual and research resources at the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) are available and committed to developing BIRCWH scholars. Integration is interdepartmental and is Center driven to enhance collaborations between scientists and trainees in the Center for Women's Health, the Heart Research Center, the Primate Research Center, the Cancer Institute, and the Center for Gender Biology and Medicine. Sophisticated research core laboratories specializing in Molecular Biology, Cell Culture, DNA analysis, Imaging, Statistics, Assisted Reproductive Techniques, Endocrine Assays, Laboratory Animal, Transgenic and Molecular Genetics Cores, among others, are established and available to the BIRCWH Scholars. Advanced training in designing clinical studies and statistical evaluation for clinician scientists will be coordinated through the highly successful Human Investigations Program. Writing skills are enhanced through structured workshops.

 

Pennsylvania

Magee Women’s Hospital of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Principal Investigator:  James M. Roberts, M.D.
Email Address: robertsjm@upmc.edu

The BIRCWH program at the University of Pittsburgh seeks to improve women's health research at the University of Pittsburgh with several strategies. The first has been to provide excellent interdisciplinary research training in women's health to as many beginning investigators as possible. Scholars funded by the program are encouraged by to obtain alternative K funding and when successful to continue to participate in the BIRCWH career development program. The program has publicized the availability of components of the BIRCWH program to other beginning investigators. In addition, we have recruited many of the research leaders of the University of Pittsburgh to become actively involved in the program through membership in the Advisory Committee. The training program emphasizes interdisciplinary research and exposure to this strategy is provided through projects but also by selecting a group of scholars with diverse research interests and approaches and encouraging their interaction.

Pennsylvania State University
Principal Investigator:  Carol Weisman, Ph.D.
Email Address: cweisman@hes.hmc.psu.edu

The goal of the BIRCWH program at Pennsylvania State University is to increase the number and skills of investigators in women’s health through a mentored research and career development experience leading to an independent interdisciplinary scientific career that will benefit the health of women. The expanding research agenda in women’s health is informed by multiple scientific disciplines, including the biological, physical, and social sciences. Research integrating knowledge from multiple perspectives is needed to advance the field of women’s health and to improve women’s health and health services. The interdisciplinary research conducted by BIRCWH scholars may be basic, translational, behavioral, clinical, and/or health services research relevant to women’s health or to sex/gender factors related to health.   At Penn State, 21 senior faculty mentors have been identified in four core research areas:   (1) Precursors and Consequences of Obesity, (2) Reproductive Health, (3) Sex and Gender Issues in Health and Disease, and  (4) Cancer Prevention, Screening and Treatment.

 

South Carolina

Medical University of South Carolina
Principal Investigator: Kathleen Brady, M.D., Ph.D.
Email Address: bradyk@musc.edu

The overall objective of the MUSC BIRCWH Program Is to promote the performance of research in women's health by bridging advanced training with research independence. The Interdisciplinary Women's Health Research program at MUSC will encourage interdisciplinary study of differences between women and men that impact the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease in two major focus areas - Aging and Mental Health. The convergence at MUSC of substantial expertise in these two critical areas assures our ability to mentor junior faculty to study women's health issues across the lifespan. Our faculty mentors have a broad skills basis in both aging and mental health, especially pertaining to dementia, substance use disorders, PTSD, and depression. In addition, we have specific expertise in the study of gender differences in pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and pharmacogenomics.

 

Tennessee

Vanderbilt University
Principal Investigator: Nancy Brown, M.D.
Email Address:  nancy.j.brown@vanderbilt.edu

The Vanderbilt BIRCWH program has supported the career development of Scholars engaged in basic, translational and epidemiological Women's Health Research in collaboration with investigators from among 15 departments or centers within Vanderbilt, Meharry Medical College and other institutions. At the same time, the BIRCWH has served as a catalyst for recruitment and growth in the area of Women's Health Research at Vanderbilt and for collaboration between Vanderbilt and Meharry Medical College. During the next five years, the BIRCWH program will focus on developing outstanding investigators in 6 major areas of Women's Health Research: Cardiovascular Risk and Gender, Clinical Pharmacology and Vaccine Development, Disparities and Health Outcomes, Endometrial Biology and Reproductive Toxicology, Neoplasia and Cancer, Neuroscience and Behavioral Health. We strive to create a new generation of creative, successful leaders in scientific areas that will improve the health of women.

Virginia

Virginia Commonwealth University
Principal Investigator:  Jerome Strauss, M.D., Ph.D.
Email Address: jfstrauss@vcu.edu

The VCU BIRCWH program enjoys superb leadership from its PI (School of Medicine dean) and its Program Co- Directors, both highly successful female faculty (one basic scientist, one physician scientist). The BIRCWH program intersects with several interdisciplinary matrix organizations, such as the Institute for Women's Health National Center of Excellence, Center for Health Disparities, and Center for Translational and Clinical Science. VCU BIRCWH scholars will have the opportunity to investigate the pathogenesis and develop preventive and therapeutic interventions for pre-eclampsia, polycystic ovary syndrome, perinatal depression, preterm birth, low birth weight, vaginal bacteriosis, breast and ovarian cancer, and substance abuse. Scholars will learn innovative methods of conducting community-based health research, statistical analyses focused on distinguishing sex and gender differences in data, and culturally competent research methodology. Scholars will be required to integrate training experiences in clinical and laboratory settings and community outreach. All scholars will attend group monthly lunch brainstorming sessions at which they will make informal presentations on their research and solicit advice and assistance.

 

Wisconsin

University of Wisconsin, Madison
Principal Investigator: Gloria Sarto, M.D., Ph.D.
Email Address: gsarto@cwhr.wisc.edu

The goals of the Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health Scholars Program at the University of Wisconsin (UW) are 1) to increase the diversity of academic leaders in the field of Women's Health (WH) and 2) to promote interdisciplinary research that addresses disparities in health status and health outcomes among diverse populations of women throughout the life span, and chronic disease prevention. We will accomplish these goals by selecting diverse and talented applicants and providing them with dual scientific mentorship with established investigators in both biomedical and behavioral/social sciences; a rigorous 2-3 year didactic curriculum (biostatistics and study design, ethics, leadership/management, presentation and teaching, and scientific writing); and individual guidance in a safe environment that values cultural diversity. We believe that integrating biomedical sciences, public health sciences, and socio-cultural and behavioral sciences is prerequisite to addressing the linkages of macro-societal levels of being with pathogenesis of disease, so important in addressing health disparities. Thus, the UW BIRCWH provides interdisciplinary and multifaceted opportunities for research that includes not only biomedical and behavioral sciences, but also investigation into quality of care, cost, access and satisfaction with services; causes of and barriers to reducing health disparities; social context; and identification of assessment measures for outcomes. To address not only the broad array of research areas outlined above but also the interdisciplinary nature of the possible candidates, the faculty is interdisciplinary and consists of physician scientists, perinatal researchers, sociologists, nurse scientists, nutritional scientists, epidemiologists and economists. The outstanding research mentors selected for the BIRCWH are enthusiastic about the opportunity to mentor more advanced Scholars through the BIRCWH.