Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health

Baylor College of Medicine's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology has been awarded a highly competitive grant from National Institutes of Health (NIH) to help young scientists build research careers in women's health. The grant "Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health" (BIRCWH) will provide research support and salary for 4 four junior faculty members at Baylor for up to 5 years.

The mission of the Baylor BIRCWH program is to increase women's health research through support of women's health scholars by providing them instruction and training in a variety of interdisciplinary topics, scientific disciplines, and methodologies. All scholars will receive intense mentoring from nationally recognized leaders. A strong advisory committee includes expertise in both molecular/clinical research, as well as clinical/health services/population research.

Candidates and their selected mentor will prepare an application detailing prior research and educational experiences, proposed educational research, and the mentoring plan for the BIRCWH award. All applicants will be reviewed by the advisory committee. All BIRCWH scholars will be required to take three didactic courses encompassing women's health issues and the fundamentals of clinical investigation and academic success.

Also, depending on prior experience, the scholars will have the opportunity to obtain additional advanced degrees during the course of the program. The goal is for the scholar to submit an NIH grant in 2-3 years. A variety of additional activities, including BIRCWH research conferences and a BIRCWH Distinguished Speaker series, will bring all Scholars and mentors together in an ongoing fashion to leverage ideas, cross fertilize projects and enhance women's health research at Baylor.

Applicants can be MDs or PhDs, in a variety of disciplines. Focus can be basic, translational, clinical, and/or health services research relevant to women's health. Individuals must spend a minimum of 75 percent of full-time professional effort conducting research and research career.

Applicants must be a U.S. citizen or non-citizen national, with permanent residency. Individuals on temporary or student visas are not eligible. At the time support begins, the candidates may not have served as a principal investigator or equivalent on an NIH research project (R01), Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01), Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award (K08) or their equivalent, a subproject of a program project (P01) or center grants (P50, U54) or equivalent PHS research grant awards. However, BIRCWH Scholars may retain their position if an R01 is received after initiating the BIRCWH program.

For additional information about the program and how to apply, please contact the BIRCWH Principal Investigator at Baylor, Joe Leigh Simpson, M.D., Professor and Chair, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology (jsimpson@bcm.tmc.edu) or BIRCWH Program Director, Haleh Sangi, Ph. D. (halehs@bcm.tmc.edu).