# Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's WRHR Center of Excellence

> **NIH NIH K12** · BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE · 2022 · $164,708

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT
We propose a new WRHR Program at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) in the Department of Obstetrics
and Gynecology that will be directed by Michael Belfort MD, PhD, Chairman with Drs. Kjersti Aagaard, MD,
PhD and Chandra Yallampalli, DVM, PhD as Research Co-Directors. Dr. Melissa Suter, PhD will serve as
the Program Director. The program's mission is to develop and enhance the academic career of OB/GYN
investigators pursuing translational and clinical research while being mentored by experienced
reproductive research scientists. The scholars will be able to choose one of 29 dedicated faculty mentors
to engage in one of 12 thematic research areas. We have a team of biostatisticians who have pledged to
support our scholars with their data analysis needs. The WRHR scholars will not only be engaged in
research and career development activities as outlined in the proposal, they will also be trained to be
mentors themselves through our National Research Mentoring Network courses and engaging in our
programs for enhancing diversity and inclusion in the next generation of scientists. With state-of-the-art
core resources, a strong team of mentors covering the breadth and depth of women's health research
topics, and support from a strong Internal Advisory Committee, the BCM-TCH WRHR program is ideally
poised to achieve this mission.
 With a highly competitive residency program, and 6 OB/GYN-related fellowship programs, we have
a strong internal pool of potential future candidates from which we can recruit highly qualified and promising
scholars. Our 29 faculty research mentors, as well as our team of experienced biostatisticians, are a
collaborative group of basic & translational scientists. Because of our reputation of rapid expansion and
innovation, we are regularly contacted by young colleagues who want to join the department to become
academic physician scientists. Furthermore, we will recruit scholar candidates at our various professional
societies' national meetings. All applications to the program will be reviewed and selected by the Advisory
Committees using defined criteria. Each accepted scholar will have an educational plan that includes
development of laboratory investigative expertise, required courses/seminars, and elective courses, and
career development activities with a dedicated career advisor. Scheduled evaluations will assure
benchmarks that include: 1) initial needs assessment and mentoring plan, 2) peer reviewed abstracts and
publications, 3) submission of individual funding applications with the goal of eventual independence and
subsequent R01- level funding. Highly ranked in NIH funding, BCM is well positioned to train WRHR
Scholars in research, advance their academic careers and prepare them for future leadership.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10480892
- **Project number:** 5K12HD103087-03
- **Recipient organization:** BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** MICHAEL A BELFORT
- **Activity code:** K12 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $164,708
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-07-21 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10480892

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10480892, Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's WRHR Center of Excellence (5K12HD103087-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10480892. Licensed CC0.

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